Gethsemane
by Snoe
Summary: The world as we know it doesn't exist anymore. All that still exists is a world of pain and suffering. Buffy and Faith have to live in a place where slayers are the most hated creatures on the planet…and demons rule our world. BF Slash
1. Knocking on Forbidden Doors

Disclaimers: I don't own Buffy & Co. They belong to Joss and some other people. All the crazy people in this story are mine though.

Summary: The world as we know it doesn't exist anymore. All that still exists is a world of pain and suffering. Buffy and Faith have to live in a place where slayers are the most hated creatures on the planet…and demons rule our world.

Author's note: I started this little series and hope people actually have some kind of interest in it. It's dark, very dark. And yeah it kinda seems like I've gotten my idea from the last couple of Angel eps, but I really haven't. If anything seems the same I'm sorry, I'm really trying to make it as different as possible. Oh, and in this story Joyce never died, Buffy never died and Dawn never happened.

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**Gethsemane I – Knocking on Forbidden Doors**

All around her there were demons. They were practically pouring out of an opening in the rock, slashing and clawing at anything that got in their way. She tried her best to kill them, at least some of them but they all knew it was no use. Even if they stopped all of these demons, there was hundreds of thousands more arriving in various locations all over the world. It was Dooms Day and it was twenty times worse than any of them had imagined.

"Faith, you alright?"

She looked at the hazel eyes of her one time enemy and nodded slowly. What did it matter now, they were losing anyway. Buffy stood next to her, leaning on the blood-stained sword at her side and breathed heavily. The demons were still coming and they both knew that no matter how hard they tried there was no way to stop them. The Hellmouth had been opened and Faith knew they didn't stand a chance.

"Yeah, B. I'm five by five."

Buffy smiled sadly at her and then threw her a worried glance. With fingers that had managed to stay silky soft throughout perilous fights the blonde gently traced the outlines of the huge gash that ran across Faith's arm. Some demon had been a little harder to kill than thought and the brunette just gave a shrug. If she died of blood loss now it really wouldn't matter anymore.

Lost in their thoughts they suddenly heard a scream and both looked up, weapons ready to pounce on their copious enemies. But what they saw made both of them want to throw up and scream at once. One of the larger demons had Giles in his grip, the British man's neck bent at a very awkward angle, before he dropped him onto the sandy floor and continued on his journey. Willow knelt next to the fallen Watcher, crying and sobbing. Walking slowly, demons all but forgotten, the two slayers made their way to the man they both had learned to love like a father.

"Giles…" Buffy whispered, her voice quivering but the tears had run out a long time ago. They had dried out when Xander and Anya had died, their parents, their family. All wiped out by the masses of demons and evil unleashed onto the world.

Closing her eyes for a short second the blonde slayer dropped her sword onto the sand and sighed. She looked at Faith sadly and closed her Watcher's eyes for the last time. The two slayers and two witches sat silently together around their fallen friend as the demons stormed by towards their freedom.

It was the last time they saw each other, for only shortly afterwards the Ruler's Army came and took them away.

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She sat up straight, with only a minimal amount of pain. Her hair was sticking to her head, as were her raggedy clothes. Heart beating more than a mile a minute she tried to calm herself but soft whimpers still escaped her lips. Shuddering, the girl drew her legs up to her chest and hugged them tightly, rocking back and forth slowly. But the tears still found their way down her face and only a few seconds later was her slim body shook by quiet sobs. Suddenly two arms reached around her and pulled her back into a warm body.

"Hey, it was just a dream…Come on baby, it'll be alright," came the soft, reassuring voice from behind her and for a second she allowed herself to believe. To believe that they were just two normal girls living in a nice place and she had awoken simply from a bad dream fabricated by her wild imagination. That everything really would be alright, because really nothing would be wrong.

"Nightmare?" came the voice and she sighed, nodded into the shoulder of the other person.

"Yeah," she whispered, trying out her voice as if she hadn't spoken in years, "I was dreaming about when…when Giles died. Right before they took us away."

Hands were stroking her hair softly, soothingly. She sighed and closed her eyes, feeling a tiny amount of safe in those arms.

"Faith?"

"Yeah, B?"

She felt the person behind her shift slightly, then push her back to a sitting position. It was very dark in the small cell they shared, but their diminishing slayer powers still allowed them some form of night vision. Faith sat up and looked at the blonde's face.

"Do you know what time it is?"

The brunette shrugged and stood up slowly, a slight groan escaping from her lips. By the look on the blonde's face she knew Buffy had heard that groan and she bit her lip. No point in reliving the last torture session they had gone through. They only lasted for half an hour each time, and slayer healing helped some in getting them better sooner, but the pain from her various cuts, bruises and burns still wasn't gone. It had been worse though, and Faith bit down on the pain she felt in her limbs to look out the small, barred window of their cell.

It was just as dark outside, the market place below empty and peaceful in the night. But the rays of the rising sun were leaking through the leaves of the trees lining the horizon and she groaned again. This time for a different reason. Sitting back on the cold, hard stone-floor she looked at the other girl.

"Sun's about to rise. I'd say we got about an hour, maybe less."

Buffy sighed and rubbed a hand across tired eyes. Looking back at the younger girl she offered a small smile and held out her arms. Faith accepted without reluctance and they sunk back to the floor wrapped in each other's arms, hoping for a few more minutes of sleep before the guards would raise them.

This time there were no fake promises.

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"Come on, get a move on! Lazy slave," the demon yelled and poked the tip of his sword into the thin girl's ribcage. She was kneeling on the sandy street, practically hyperventilating and blood was slowly dripping from an old cut on her abdomen. Shaking his head he wiped a white handkerchief across his sweaty, blue forehead and walked to the shaded area where his fellow guards sat.

He dropped into one of the chairs with a sigh and watched as the girl got up slowly, picked up her shovel and started working with the others again on the street. None of them failed to notice the worried looks the blonde girl a few feet away from them was throwing the injured slave, but every slave knew that interference resulted in either torture or a slow, painful death.

"Callas is going hard on the slayers these days, isn't he?" One of the guards next to him asked while watching the injured girl and the blonde one watching her.

"Well, from what I heard, he increased the torture sessions to almost twice their length. If them two weren't slayers they would've died a long time ago," he answered, taking one of the mugs standing on the table in front of him and let the cool water run down his throat.

A purplish demon wearing the Ruler's Army uniform like all of them shook his head in disbelief, "If he keeps that up they might die eventually. We don't want new slayers being called, no matter how strong the demon hold on the world is nowadays. Who knows where they'd appear and maybe take out Callas some way or another. He should know better than to let those two deteriorate like that."

Nodding in agreement the blue demon guard smoothed out the creases in his black uniform and watched the slaves without much interest. The sun was beating down on the city, it was early afternoon and barely anyone was outside at this time of day. No one would be stupid enough to be outside at this time, but of course the slaves didn't have a choice. Callas wanted the new street to Aviso being finished by tomorrow, even two years after the opening of the Hellmouth, or begin of the New Era as Callas liked to call it, work was still being done to rebuilt pretty much every city in the world that had been destroyed during the attack of the demons on mankind. The slaves were all primarily human, captives that had survived the day of the New Era.

The slayers were the cities most priced possession, most definitely still the most dangerous entity on the planet. Callas, who had declared himself the ruler, seeing as he had been the one to allow the Hellmouth to really open, had built his city right on top of the Hellmouth once the New Era had begun. The big, gray castle standing in the center of the demon city sure enough was a reminder that the Ruler was close by. Most of the demons lived in the Ruler's City, only some lived in far outskirts of the world, but still all of the living beings on the planet answered to Callas.

Callas was a vampire, to all the demons' dismay of course, and therefore had reserved the right for himself to torture the slayers almost every day since they had been captured. He treated them worse than any other slave currently locked in the dungeons of the castle, and that was pretty hard to do, the guard thought to himself.

"Hey! Slave!" another guard yelled and jumped up, grabbing a girl by her hair and dragging her close to the tent that had been set up for the guards. Only a few seconds later the guard was beating on the slave with some stick he'd found on the ground.

"Vannir," someone called his name and he turned to look at the purple face of his long-time friend and colleague Xenop, "did you see what she did?"

He shook his head, watching from the corner of the eye as the guard continued beating on the slave and uttered a sigh of relief as he realized the slave wasn't one of his charges. He hated when other guards beat up his charges.

"No, probably stopped a second to brush hair out of her face. You know how he treats his charges," Vannir replied and his friend nodded deep in thought.

It was a well-known fact that most of the Ruler's Army Guards were brutal and beat slaves for no reason at all. Every guard was given a number of charges that he had to make sure got their portion of food, clothes and did their work alright. Vannir had been an acquaintance of Callas's back before the New Era and therefore had received the highest job in the Army Guards, and allowed to be in charge of the slayers. He mused that if he hadn't been the two girls might have died a while ago from the brutal beatings, along with those torture sessions Callas loved.

Heaving another sigh he looked at the exhausted bodies of the slaves and the sun, figuring it was time to take the slaves back to the dungeons. A lot of guards didn't understand that slaves were raw material and to overwork and kill them was the stupidest thing to do. Treated right a 15-year-old slave could provide a good ten years worth of work; the amount of money to be saved from having a slave work for free was enough to provide three or more guards with their salary. Most of the slaves were owned by the Ruler and kept in the castle's many dungeons, but a few private persons had bought their own few slaves to help out with work. Vannir hoped to be able to buy a slave for himself as soon as he got his next paycheck to help out his wife at home.

Standing up he signaled for the other guards to get their charges ready and counted his quickly. They slowly made their way back to the dungeon, a picture of pathetic, dirty slaves and well-groomed guards. Vannir ordered the guards to lock up the slaves and took the two slayers through the confusing tunnels in the dungeon to Callas's torture chamber. He sighed as he locked the door behind them and hoped they'd survive another one of the Ruler's sick games.

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Faith collapsed on the padded bench as soon as the guard locked the door behind them. She'd had trouble breathing and seeing straight ever since she fell during their march to the work-site this morning. As soon as she was sitting Buffy was kneeling in front of her, looking at her with that worried look in her gorgeous hazel eyes.

"B, don't worry. I'll be alright."

The blonde smiled sadly and nodded, knowing that it wouldn't help to argue. Looking around the medium-sized room they were in she sighed. The Ruler had created this "Prep-Room", that the slayers were brought in every time before another session with his torture chamber. The room had thick, red carpet and padded benches and chairs. There was a big, double bed standing against the wall with silk sheets and a heap of pillows just screaming their name. Off to the side was a bathroom, with a shower that they were expected to use before the session began. They had learned quickly that Callas hated to torture someone dirty, that was wearing rags on top of that. So there usually was a set of clean underwear and white, silk pants and shirts for each of them to wear after their shower. For some odd reason Callas always allowed them about an hour after they were brought to the room to get cleaned up, dressed and rest in a real bed. Buffy believed that it was part of his torture as well. After all, this room was practically paradise to them compared to the small, dingy cell they spent most of their time in, and to allow them that and then rip it away was just plain cruel as well.

"Faith?" she asked softly, seeing the faraway look on the other girl's face.

"Yeah?" the brunette asked softly and smiled at the older girl.

"You wanna shower? Get it over with?"

Faith nodded with a sigh and tried to get up on shaky legs. Shaking her head the blonde got up as well and lent a sturdy hand to the other girl.

"Want me to help you?" she asked softly and smiled as Faith nodded, then helped the brunette into the shower.

Thinking back two years, Buffy realized Faith never would've accepted her help and Buffy never would've even considered showering with another girl, let alone Faith. But now the thought of leaving Faith's side for more than a minute seemed absurd to her, she just couldn't imagine it.

Showering both of them quickly Buffy helped Faith get dressed and then took the other girl to the big, soft bed. Faith curled up into her arms out of instinct, they'd been sleeping in each other's arm practically since the first night they'd been captured. Buffy sighed in content, knowing that these few minutes of happiness were all they were going to taste before there would be more of the worst pain each had ever felt in her life.

Kissing the dozing brunette's forehead Buffy allowed herself to drift to a semi-conscious dream state.

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She stretched lazily and yawned before opening her eyes to the warm sun shining through the bedroom window. Turning around in the large bed she found a warm body half draped over hers and she smiled. Shaking the other girl softly she found herself mesmerized by the deep, brown eyes that stared back at her.

"Hey sleepyhead," she mumbled and brushed some brunette hair out of the girl's eyes.

"Hey B," the girl answered and sat up with ease, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and yawned as well.

Buffy watched her for a few seconds and then got out of bed. They quickly got dressed and by the time the blonde set foot in the kitchen the smell of fresh brewed coffee reached her nose. Faith was sitting at the counter, reading a newspaper and eating some cereal. Smiling at the sight the blonde filled her cup with coffee and stood against the counter across from the younger girl.

"Thanks for the coffee, Faith," Buffy said before sitting on a chair and stealing Faith's newspaper.

Giving a shrug the brunette let the other slayer have the newspaper with a small smile and walked over to the couch, turning on the TV as she dropped into the soft cushions.

"B?"

"Yeah F?"

"How come there's nothing ever on TV?" Faith's voice sounded disappointed, like small child's realizing she'd just missed her favorite morning cartoon.

Buffy turned and looked at the brunette, sighing quietly. "Maybe our minds aren't that adapt. I mean, there's no more TV but there are newspapers in reality. Everything in here is stuff that we know already, it's all about the real world. Our minds might just not be able to fabricate that kind of fake reality."

The brunette nodded sadly and Buffy sighed again. As nice as these dreams were, they depressed both of them severely because they could still remember their real life. About half a year after their capture they had found themselves meeting in their dreams, at first it was very simple: Just the two of them in a sea of whiteness, eventually colors and after a while they had been able to fabricate a dream world for themselves. Most of the times they slept they met here, their own little apartment in a world before the New Era. Buffy was sure that if Giles were still alive he'd tell them it was an effect of their slayer bond.

Sighing she walked over to the brunette and sat down on the sofa. Taking the other girl's hand she looked at her softly, "Do you really want TV that badly?"

Faith shook her head and sat up, leaning against the blonde gently. "Nah, not really. I just hate knowing that any second we're gonna be woken up and have to go through that whole torture thing again. "

Wrapping her arms around the younger girl the blonde tried hard not to sigh. There was no need to agree, Faith knew she felt the same way. And she'd rather feel the brunette close to her the last few seconds they were asleep. She could already feel herself being woken up.

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Shrugging off his black robe he turned and gave a stern look to the demon standing behind him. He was in a bad mood, probably worse than ever. There had been news of a terrorist group hiding out somewhere around the city limits, plotting to take him over. Callas was more than pissed, he had relied on his Army and Guards to find the traitors and execute them publicly, but so far no luck. Just today he had received a threat that if he did not hand them over 50 of his slaves they would attack the public. The group was formed mainly of human slaves that had escaped, but there also were some demon members who didn't think he was doing a good job of ruling.

Scoffing at that thought Callas walked down the hallway that was lined with burning torches to give off the feel of a chamber. Stepping into the big room that was all stone, along with torches mounted on the walls, he looked around and smiled to himself. There were two stone slabs in the middle of the room, with enough restraints to hold down even a slayer, and trays all along the walls with various torture instruments.

"The slayers will be ready in a second, majesty," one of the guards informed him and Callas nodded slowly. He had some time to kill, no need to rush this.

"Has my new toy been installed yet?" he asked, a glimmer in his eyes, and the guard thought it was still scary to see the Ruler gain such pleasure from torturing the slaves.

"Yes, majesty. We had the tub installed this morning. It works like promised, we tried it this morning, the results will be to your delight."

Callas nodded and smoothed out his black shirt. There was a knock on the heavy metal door to the side of the room and he grinned in anticipation; the knock was the sign that the slayers were ready.

The door opened and he watched as three guards pushed the girls inside, holding onto them tightly. Callas didn't risk allowing the slayers enough leeway to maybe stake him and overthrow the ruling. After all, he was a vampire and being in close proximity to two vampire slayers usually meant nothing good. He figured that was why he had taken a liking to torturing the two, not many a vampire had tortured two slayers and rendered them powerless.

The girls stood next to each other, both looking as weak and pathetic as human slaves and he cocked his head. Usually he switched which one to torture each session, making one of them watch. He had started doing this as soon as his guards had reported a strong bond forming between them, figuring it'd hurt each more in the long run. Remembering his bad mood he grinned evilly and pointed at the brunette one and turned around, walking towards the first stone slab.

He was just waiting for the protests of the blonde slayer at his choice and he wasn't disappointed.

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"Hey, it's not her turn!" Buffy yelled and watched as one of the guards dragged the brunette over to the stone slab they both had come to hate.

"Buffy, don't worry. I'll be alright," Faith mumbled, trying to quiet her down. But the blonde just couldn't take this. For almost two years Callas had alternated between them and now he was using Faith the second time in a row. It just wasn't fair, the brunette wouldn't be able to survive, Buffy feared.

"No! Hey, Callas you asshole!" she yelled and everyone in the room but Callas himself and Buffy froze. No one was even allowed to call the Ruler by his name, let alone insult him. A guard slapped her quickly to silence her but Callas only laughed. Buffy watched him intently as he walked over to her slowly. He would've been good-looking had he not been a vampire and totally evil. He was tall, somewhere around six foot, with dark hair that he had spiked and a well-toned body that was visible through his dark shirt. He was powerful, now, but his green eyes betrayed his age well. Callas was less than 10 years old, nothing for a vampire and he'd been young when turned, probably not even twenty years. Just by some luck had he managed to open the Hellmouth and declared himself ruler.

As he stood before her now she wasn't the least bit scared. She really didn't care much anymore and if it hadn't been for Faith needing her she would've let him kill her a long time ago. Callas laughed again and bent down close to her face, knowing that the demon guards had a strong hold on Buffy's arms.

"Well my little slayer, I hope you know you just made things worse for your little friend here."

And with that he walked back over to the stone slab where the guards were tying down Faith. The two demons holding her dragged the blonde over to the chair resembling an electric chair to a T. She was strapped down tightly and told to not close her eyes in any case. They wanted her to see what they were going to do to Faith. Heaving a sigh and closing her eyes for just a second she watched as Callas approached the brunette, who had been stripped to her underwear and strapped to the stone slab, with an evil grin.

"Let the fun begin!" Callas laughed and picked up a surgical knife from the tray a demon was holding.

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Callas watched with a grim face as the girl started spitting out water, water tinted red with her own blood. Sighing he got up and turned around. Not even torturing was as much fun as it used to be. One of the guards came over and with a worried face let him know that the slayer was near hypothermia and it was probably time to take her out of the freezing water.

Nodding slowly the Ruler waved his hand, the sign that the session was over. As he walked out of the chamber with a guard on his trail the shocked faces of some of the demons surprised even himself. Looking at a clock he realized he'd let the session run for almost an hour, longer than he'd promised himself to ever torture the slayers. Rubbing a tired hand across his forehead he pulled over one of the guards and gave him orders to take some blankets and food to the slayers' cell and walked into his office.

Those damn terrorists really were affecting his performance as a fair ruler.

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It was cold. Her clothes were wet and the dungeons definitely weren't the place to be with wet clothes. Looking up at Faith, who was sitting on the small wooden bench in their cell shivering, she sighed. The session with Callas had lasted twice as long as usually and Faith was practically a wreck now. That half hour where they'd put her in a tub with ice water and repeatedly pushing her head under water had made Buffy want to cry. It was the first time Callas had used that torture, and while it might not seem as horrible as all the cutting and beating, Buffy knew that if the brunette got pneumonia or something she'd blame herself.

To their surprise, though, the guards had brought a heap of blankets and even some food for them, ordered by Callas. Wrapping one of the many blankets around Faith, the blonde spread a couple of the huge ones out on the floor and pulled the younger girl close to her. Using a couple more blankets she wrapped herself and Faith tightly, trying to get some warmth back into the brunette's body. Buffy's clothes were already soaked from helping the younger girl walk and she didn't care if they got any wetter.

Rubbing the girl's back as she started crying Buffy sighed to herself. It just couldn't go on like this. They were slayers, they were supposed to slay the vampires and demons that now ruled over them. Someone yelled an insult towards them from the opposing cell accusing them of being selfish and keeping all those blankets for themselves. Buffy ignored the other slave, her times of caring for any human but herself and Faith were long over.

Lying down on the blankets that made the stone ground a little bit easier to bear, the older slayer yawned softly. Making sure all of Faith was covered she wrapped her arms around the younger girl and hoped they'd be able to sleep a couple of hours. Buffy felt the brunette drift off to sleep and sighed in relief. She just didn't know how much longer they could hold out. There was no way out, no end in sight. Their lives had been reduced to this routine of beatings, working and being tortured. At times like these Buffy wondered if she wouldn't be doing both of them a favor if she got them killed. Or if she killed Faith and then took her own life.

Knowing that she could never harm the younger girl, Buffy closed her eyes at the situation. This just wasn't life anymore. Tightening her hold on the other girl Buffy cried herself into a restless sleep.

_End Part 1_

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TBC? I don't know if I should keep going with this series. I've got some more things planned for our slayers, but I won't bother if no one wants to read it. Please let me know if there should be more parts!


	2. Persequi Tuus Tyrannus

_Due to popular demand here's the second part to my series. _

**This story has been posted at one or two other sites before, so to anyone who's read the previous version: There'll only be some minor changes, mainly grammar, spelling, sentence structure, etc. Chapter VII will probably be the only chapter with an actual change in the story, though it won't impact the main plot.**

Chapter Summary: As if life wasn't already bad enough for the slayers, an attack leaves the Ruler seething with anger and endangers the lives of Buffy and Faith. Hope seems to be lost…but is it?

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**Gethsemane II – Persequi Tuus Tyrannus**

She woke up with a headache the size of Grand Central, if it had still been in existence anyway. Trying not to groan too loudly the girl brought a shaky hand to her forehead and felt the heat radiate off her skin. She sat up, fighting herself out of a web of thick blankets and body parts, then glanced around the cell.

It was dark, probably somewhere near midnight and the other slaves were sleeping soundly. For some reason she was wrapped in blankets and felt several more of them underneath of her. She knew for sure that they'd owned one single blanket together just the night before, but she couldn't remember where these had come from. Or what had happened before she'd fallen asleep. She just knew that her body hurt like she'd gone three rounds with an army and lost. Something was lurking at the back of her mind that wouldn't quite come forward, the answer to what had happened to her and why she was in this cell.

Taking a deep breath that made her feel kind of dizzy she reached out and shook the smaller person sleeping to her side. It took a few seconds before the other girl even as much as groaned, but as soon as she opened her eyes she was sitting up as well with a worried look on her face.

"Faith babe, what's wrong? You can't sleep?" she asked softly, not wanting to alert the guards, and reached out to brush the brunette girl's hair out of her face.

"I uh…I don't know? Buffy what happened to me?" she asked in a whisper, her voice breaking as she spoke.

Sighing the blonde slayer looked away. Sometimes after torture sessions the younger girl would wake up in the middle of the night and have forgotten everything, including the torture and why they were here. At the beginning Buffy had refused to tell the brunette about the torture, figuring that it was better for Faith if she didn't remember. But the other slayer had begged and pleaded and made Buffy realize there was no way around it. Faith hated not knowing.

"Do you remember the torture sessions?" Buffy started softly and continued as Faith nodded reluctantly, "Callas tortured you for almost an hour, you were barely conscious when we got back. I guess he realized he went a little overboard and had us brought some blankets and food."

Faith nodded, she had figured as much anyway.

"Are you okay?" the brunette asked quietly and slid her hand into Buffy's, squeezing it gently before looking into hazel eyes.

The older slayer smiled sadly and nodded, reaching out to cup Faith's cheek in her hand, "Yeah, I'm okay. As long as you are."

They both smiled at each other and Buffy wished they could stay like this forever. Maybe in a different place, but just like this, looking into each other's eyes, with no walls or barred windows.

"Wanna go back to sleep?" Buffy asked, feeling a yawn coming on and knowing they'd both be expected to work tomorrow. She knew she could do it, but she was still worried about Faith. The younger girl felt kind of hot, her skin clammy and pale.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" the blonde added, soft fingers trailing across the new injuries, lingering there for a second as if burning them away just by touch. Faith turned to look at the older girl and pressing a cold finger against soft lips she gave a small smile. She pulled Buffy with her as she lay down.

Their arms never left the other's body as they both drifted back to sleep, all pain and all worries momentarily forgotten.

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"They must be crazy!" he hissed between clenched teeth and threw the crumpled ball of paper against the wall.

A demon guard winced at the outburst and looked to his feet. Guard duty inside the castle had become the job no one wanted to take, ever since news about Callas's bad mood had reached the ears of the common people. Callas was generally feared, but his citizens believed him to be a decent ruler for the most part. He had re-built the cities, commerce was good and there was enough food for everybody. But now everybody had found out about his latest excursion into the land of cruelty; guards told merchants on the market of the latest torture session and the merchants relented the information to the female chatterboxes that shopped at their stands. It was being said that at least one of the two slayers was well near death and if she died a new slayer would be called that could endanger everyone's existence.

And if public fear of the slayers hadn't been enough, now these terrorists were threatening the city and its ruler. Callas had ignored the first request of 50 slaves to be freed and handed over to the terrorists, now they were threatening the city. The ruler was furious, no one knew when and where to expect the attack that seemed imminent.

"Freedom Fighters, what are they thinking? I don't have time for this. I've got complaints coming in left and right about how I should make sure the slayers stay alive."

"Yes, your majesty. Those terrorists should be taken down and beaten publicly," the guard agreed humbly and watched from the corner of his eyes as Callas walked over to him slowly, his face grave and an evil glee in his eyes.

"I agree, they should have been taken down when the first threat came in! Now get your sorry ass out there and tell Vannir that I want the slaves working, RIGHT NOW!"

Wincing again the demon slipped out through the doors, leaving a cursing and complaining Ruler behind.

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The shackles were biting into her flesh painfully, but somehow she just couldn't get herself to care. The sun was biting down relentlessly on the marketplace that stretched far out in the middle of the city, right next to the castle. The sand underneath her bare feet was hot, but she didn't make a sound as the guards forced her forward, slow steps as if they wanted to prolong the agony.

Buffy bent her head, like all slaves were supposed to do when in presence of someone other than a slave, and shuffled her feet forward slowly. It reminded her of inmates in a bad prison movie she had seen years ago. Speaking was strictly forbidden and as hard as it was, she kept to the rule. The blonde could feel Faith walking next to her, head bent as well, and she just hoped the other girl would be alright after working a brutal day in the sun.

Apparently Callas wanted them to help out the merchants as their work-detail for the day, instead of the harder labor out in the streets. Buffy was thankful for that, she knew there was no way Faith would've survived working their usual day of physical labor.

They were stopped abruptly by the guards and both looked up, blinking at the blinding sun that had ascended well into the sky. Colorful booths were lined up along the marketplace at least a hundred feet out, and the common folk was busily buying groceries and exchanging gossip. The merchants were primarily demons, a very colorful array of skins, horns and tails, but some vampires had managed to get their own booths. Vampires had been able to walk in the sun ever since the Day of the New Era; some said that the sun shining now was the one that had actually been present in hell.

The guard's hands were tight on her shoulders as he kept her from walking into the marketplace. Right now they were standing right before the first booth, and the guards were strangely surveying the area as if looking for something. There had been rumors under the slaves that the Freedom Fighters, who had been believed to be nothing but a myth, were planning an attack to free more slaves. Many slaves that had vanished supposedly had been freed by those freedom fighters and were now active members of their cause. But Buffy knew better than to believe in fairy tales; she owed Faith and herself that much. While the other slaves kept each other going by telling stories of someone's escape or how they'd overthrow Callas one day, Buffy kept herself and Faith alive by telling the younger girl stories of the Old Era. Happy times she'd spent with her family, her friends. And even though it hurt to be reminded that all her old friends and family were dead, it also helped them heal. And reality was always much better than make-belief.

Sunken deep in her thoughts, Buffy didn't see what was happening until the hot fire clouds were coming towards her. A loud roar filled the air that deafened her and she could barely hear the dozens of screams that rose around her. Even the screams were soon drowned out by blasts of fire bursting high into the air and towards them, the heat so intense the blonde thought her face was on fire. Metal scraps tore through the air at high speed, hitting those trying to flee and severing body parts. The shockwave came a second later and it felt as if a giant, invisible beast had lifted her off her feet and thrown her into the air. It had taken Buffy this long to register what was going on, and instinctively she reached for Faith. But where the brunette had been just seconds before she found nothing. Turning her head as she was falling, Buffy felt a heavy body slam against hers and bring her to the ground, knocking all air out of her body.

The sweaty, heavy body of a demon on top of hers was the last thing she felt before everything went black.

------------------------------

The air quieted after a few minutes of the deafening roar. He groaned and pulled himself off the ground, looking around quickly for the perpetrators. Callas had warned them that those terrorists might try something, but none of them had expected a large-scale attack on the marketplace.

His eyes burned from the smoke curling in the air and ringing in his ears made him dizzy. The grotesque smell of burning wood and flesh filled his nostrils and Vannir had to keep himself from throwing up. If the smell alone hadn't been bad enough, the sight that greeted him as the smoke cleared definitely was. Demons of all sizes were lying on the ground, blood pouring from shrapnel induced wounds. Some were even missing body parts and lay on the bloody sand writhing. He was thankful that at least he could not hear their screams of pain.

Quickly remembering the slayer he was supposed to protect from a possible attack he turned around and looked at the ground. The brunette girl was lying in the sand, a large wood piling covering part of her torso, her eyes closed. He kneeled next to the girl, pushing away the wood and brushed the dust off her face and eyes. It was then that the ringing in his ears subsided and he finally heard the horrific screams of the dying and wounded. He fought hard to ignore the pleas for help and instead leaned down towards his charge.

The girl opened her eyes, blinking slowly as if in a daze and Vannir sighed in relief. At least she was alive. Dust and sand covered every inch of her body and he really didn't know if the blood on her skin was hers or someone else's. Checking her upper body for any wounds he found none and looked at her face as he moved on to her lower body.

"Can you hear me?" he yelled, realizing his own hearing wasn't back to normal and the girl's probably wasn't either.

"Are you hurt?"

The girl looked at him with big eyes before chuckling, and Vannir realized how stupid his question had been. Of course she was hurt, Callas had made sure of that last night. Normally he would've been supposed to whip a slave that laughed at a guard, but this was hardly the time and place for punishment.

"Sorry, sir. I don't feel any unusual pain, sir," she answered quietly, her voice rough and dry from the dust.

He nodded slowly and avoided her eyes as he looked at her right leg. Giving her a small smile he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and covered up the piece of shrapnel embedded in her thigh. There was no need to let her know just yet.

Remembering the other slayer he glanced to his left side and saw his demon colleague moving off the listless body of the blonde girl. Cursing under his breath Vannir immediately felt for a pulse on the slender body and sighed in relief as he felt it steady under his fingers. She'd probably only been knocked out, nothing to worry about. Callas would be raging about the terrorist attack, but at least Vannir could report to him that the slayers had survived the attack.

The first medical help was arriving on scene and he sent a young guard standing close by to inform Callas of the slayers' survival and ask about what to do with them. Collapsing onto the sand himself, Vannir realized for the first time what had really happened and how close to dying they had all come. Sucking in his breath he cursed the day he had accepted this job.

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"NO! DON'T TELL ME THIS FUCKING CRAP!"

The young guard winced and hoped he wouldn't be hit. He'd never actually met the Ruler face-to-face, and although it was a great honor, he wished he hadn't been the one to report the news. Of course Callas hadn't missed the huge blast and shockwave, but he apparently hadn't expected a disaster of this size. The whole marketplace had practically been blasted to pieces, and half the city's population along with it.

"Majesty, sir, I am also to tell you that the slayers are alive," he tried it with the better news and apparently it seemed to work. Callas calmed down at least a notch and walked over to face him.

"Is Vannir hurt?"

"No sir."

"Good. Tell him to bring the slayers to the prep-room."

The guard's eyes must've just about popped out of their sockets for Callas actually grinned and shook his head. He wasn't even anywhere near being in the mood to torture the slayers now.

"I don't think they will be safe in the dungeons. The terrorists might attack and try to free the slaves; I can spare some useless slaves but not the slayers. I want them to stay in the prep-room for now, until further notice. Understood?!"

Saluting, the demon guard took off to report to his superior and Callas clenched his fists.

Those terrorists were going to pay.

------------------------------

She woke up with a groan and lifted a heavy hand to her head. The last thing she remembered was standing outside the marketplace…before all that fire and metal came flying through the air at them.

Buffy sat up straight in bed and groaned again. Her head hurt like what must've been hell. Looking around quickly she realized she was lying in the big bed of the prep-room and her heart stopped in fear. Callas wouldn't really be doing this, she tried to tell herself. But she was even more afraid when she didn't find Faith next to her in bed. She hadn't been more than 6 feet away from the brunette for two years and she wasn't going to start now.

"Faith?" the blonde croaked, swinging her legs over the side of the bed as she looked around the empty room. It looked like it always did: clean carpets and walls, nothing that could possibly be used as a weapon. Looking down at herself Buffy realized that she'd been showered and dressed in clean, comfortable clothes. Although her head hurt she generally felt fine.

"Faith?" she tried again, this time her voice cooperating a little bit better. Taking a few cautious steps around the room, the blonde saw that she really was the only person in here. Thinking back to the attack at the marketplace it made her heart constrict tightly in fear. What if Faith was dead? What if she'd been hit by some gone-crazy metal slicing off her head?

Feeling tears sting her eyes Buffy told herself to get her act together. She really didn't know what had happened, but not once in two years had Faith been away from her. Buffy wasn't sure whether she could keep telling herself everything was alright, when the sliding door in the wall opened and two guards stepped inside.

"Where is she? Where's Faith?" Buffy yelled, knowing she might get whipped for speaking to the guards without being asked, but she really didn't care at this point.

"Hush now little girl. Your friend is alright. The Ruler has ordered for you both to remain here until further notice as a safety precaution. Food will be brought to you in a couple of hours," the head guard spoke and stepped to the side as another guard walked through the door with an unconscious body in his arms.

"Faith," Buffy whispered, hoping the guard hadn't lied and the girl really was okay.

The guard dropped Faith on the bed and stepped back towards his colleague. Turning around before they left the demon spoke again while looking at Buffy, "She was hit by some shrapnel in the leg. The medical staff has removed it and closed the wound, but a doctor will stop by before you get your food to check her out."

The door slid shut behind them before Buffy could say another word and in an instant she was on the bed beside the brunette. Faith seemed to be asleep, a peaceful look on her face and the blonde sighed in relief. She had never felt such fear before in her life as in the moment she thought she'd lost the younger girl. Lying down next to the warm body the slayer realized that both of them had been showered and dressed, and she wrapped her arms gently around a slim waist.

Pulling Faith's body closer to hers Buffy hoped that their slayer connection would once again allow them to meet in a better, if fake world. Especially since she had a surprise for Faith.

------------------------------

Her eyes snapped open immediately and she wasted no time in assessing her situation. Recognizing the light, wooden furniture of the room, the few pictures of herself and other people hanging on the walls, some dirty clothes scattered on the floor, she breathed a sigh of relief. Looking down at the sheets she smiled as she realized they were her favorites and got out of bed, slowly looking around the room again. Already being dressed, the blonde girl skipped the whole morning-routine of taking a shower and lazily putting on clothes and walked right to the closed door.

Reaching slowly for the door handle she braced herself. She wasn't expecting any surprises; she was more afraid of the lack of a person she might find behind the door. Pushing down the handle the blonde stopped short and looked to her left. Narrowing her eyes she studied the wall slowly and tried to figure out what had caught her eyes. Finally her gaze rested on a picture frame that she swore hadn't been there last time. Taking it down and studying it closely she couldn't help but smile. The picture showed her and Faith, both laughing, the blonde's arms wrapped around the other's body.

Putting the picture back on its place on the wall, Buffy pushed open the door and was greeted with the sweet smell of fresh flowers that stood in a vase on the kitchen counter. Walking into the kitchen she found it clean and unused, something that instilled a grain of worry in her. Moving on to the living room the blonde let out the breath she'd unconsciously been holding as she spotted a slim body curled up on the sofa. Faith seemed to be asleep, and Buffy figured it was due to the steady rain that poured down onto the streets and their roof.

She sat on the couch next to the girl and studied her closely. The bruises, wounds and broken bones from the real world didn't exist in this place; it was a world fabricated by their memories, dreams and beliefs. Not wanting to wake the peacefully sleeping girl, but knowing Faith would be upset if she'd missed this meeting in their dreams, Buffy leaned down and kissed the dark curls gently. The younger girl had always been a light sleeper, and even as she sat back up Buffy was already staring into soft, brown eyes.

"Hey there," the blonde whispered and smiled brightly, a gesture that brought her a smile in return.

"Buffy," Faith offered and sat up, rubbing her eyes with a yawn, "I thought you weren't gonna make it this time."

Giving the brunette a serious look the older slayer shook her head, "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

They both sat back against the couch, their bodies as close as possible without them practically lying on top of each other, and Buffy reached for the remote. "Well, let's see what's on TV."

Faith gave her a stare that screamed 'B-has-lost-her-mind-completely' and tried to mention the fact that there was NEVER anything on TV, but the blonde had already switched it on. But much to the younger girl's surprise a picture flickered on the screen and the familiar jingle of a morning cartoon filled the room. Faith stared at the screen, watching as a group of little, blue characters with white hats danced across the TV and blinked, turning to face the blonde with an excited glimmer in her eyes.

"The Smurfs! B how…what…how did you do that?"

Smiling at the girl, who was more excited than Buffy had ever seen her, she shrugged her shoulders, "Well, I remembered part of this episode that I watched years ago with Xander and Willow, so I went over every little detail of it in my head. I was hoping it'd work, I just wanted to make you happy."

Faith squealed, at least it sounded like it to Buffy, and the brunette immediately wrapped her arms around the blonde, pressing her lips to Buffy's for a split-second. The brunette stopped any movement and looked at the blonde with fear in her eyes, then pulled back.

"B…I…I'm sorry. I didn't mean…I'm," Faith stuttered, looking anywhere but the blonde's face and Buffy would've laughed at the situation if the brunette hadn't been so afraid of Buffy telling her to get away.

Reaching out with her right hand to touch the younger girl's shoulder, Buffy lifted Faith's chin with her left hand and smiled softly, "Hey…don't worry, nothing happened. Come on, you're gonna miss the show."

Drawing Faith into her arms, Buffy settled against the couch and directed her attention to the Smurfs on TV. The brunette was stiff, not letting herself be comforted by Buffy's touch. But after a few minutes of the blonde's hands traveling in soothing rhythms across the brunette's back, Faith let herself relax.

The slayers watched intently as the little, blue Smurfs tried to solve some banal problem, and reveled in the warmth of the other's arms.

------------------------------

"Dave?"

"Yes?"

"Please tell me it's not true that you had something to do with the attack on the marketplace this morning."

The young man stopped in front of the blonde girl and looked at her with big eyes. They both diverted their attention as another guy walked up to them from the long tunnel that led to the main room of the cave.

"Dave?"

He looked back at her, then threw a look at the guy next to him and shrugged. They hadn't expected to be reprimanded for trying to free slaves and get back at Callas. Even though the attack had been harsher than expected, in their eyes it was all in the best interest of the slaves.

"Well…we might've planted a little bomb and it might've gone off…but it was all to convince Callas that we're not just a bunch of dumb wanna-be terrorists!" he tried to defend himself, but saw it was no use as the blonde threw her hands up and turned to look at the other girl behind her.

"Dave says he did it. Lesley, were you there, too?" she directed the question at the second young man, who nodded slowly, apprehensively.

"We're freedom fighters, not terrorists. We don't kill people, we try to save them. What were you guys thinking?" the second girl came forward, barely holding her anger under control. It was getting harder these days to find people willing to fight for their cause, and although they had freed about a hundred slaves, most of those were too young, too old or too injured to help with work at their camp.

The two girls had been some of the first slaves to escape from Callas's dungeons, and along with the other escapees had formed the camp. Over time, they'd provided shelter, food and support for escapees and demons that had been kicked out of the city for treason. The camp was located outside the city limits, deep inside a cavern that was protected with magical barriers. To this day the Ruler's Army was clueless about their whereabouts.

"Wait, what'd you just say?" she stopped her train of thought to register something that Lesley had just said. It was getting harder and harder to deal with the young men that joined them; they were always overenthusiastic and wanted to blast the castle to pieces.

"Well, I was just saying that, when the bomb went off, we were hiding farther away in the bushes, right? So right before it went off, these two slaves were being walked to their work-duty I guess, two guards with them. Nothing unusual, right?" Lesley started and the girl nodded impatiently. She hated when they kept going off on unimportant tangents. Feeling someone take her hand to calm her, she looked up at the blonde and smiled.

"Well, but when the bomb went off, the GUARDS threw themselves at the slaves to protect them, instead of using the slaves to protect themselves. It was as if they were really concerned whether those two lived."

The blonde girl widened her eyes and looked at her lover; they were both thinking the same thing.

"What'd they look like?" the shorter girl asked with a shaky voice.

"Well, the one closest to me was brunette. Would've been a major hottie if she hadn't been so skinny and bruised. The other was blonde, kinda short, but I couldn't see much of her, cause the guard was already throwing himself at her."

Rubbing a hand across her forehead she shook her head and tried to think a clear thought. This couldn't be, this just couldn't be true. For almost two years now they had…

"Hey? Babe?"

She looked up at the blonde and nodded, answering the unspoken question. Then, thinking of something, she practically ran through the tunnel to her space in the large cave that housed all their members and searched through her old, withered backpack. Finding what she was looking for she raced back to the tunnel, panting as she handed over the old picture to the two guys.

"Are those the two girls?" she breathed heavily, pointing at the smiling faces of a blonde and a brunette girl, next to a dark-haired guy with a goofy grin and a redhead.

He looked up at her slowly, eyes holding confusion and nodded slowly, "Yeah…but…Will, how do you know them?"

"Ever heard of the slayers?"

"Yeah, that's a fairy tale," he answered, doubt in his voice now.

"No. Those two are the slayers…" she took another deep breath, and turned to the blonde at her side.

"Tara, they're alive."

_To be continued…_


	3. The Evil that Men Do

_Thanks for your reviews guys and I'm sorry it's taken so long to update, I'll try to be quicker next time. To those who asked about the webpages this story was published on, I don't think any of them are still up and running at this point, which is the main reason I'm re-posting here. _

Chapter Summary: The Ruler is going more insane by the minute, the Slayers are losing more hope by the minute…but the good in people still lives on. And so do the two witches.

Author's note: The title is from Antony's speech in William Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar'.

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**Gethsemane III – The Evil that Men Do**

Callas tightened his grip on the bamboo stick and let it sail downward onto the pale skin of the girl. His face was twisted into a cruel snarl, his eyes glowing green and he was seething with anger - again. The slave, near unconsciousness, wasn't even able to scream anymore as the stick tore open more skin on her raw back.

Wiping the back of his hand across his sweaty forehead, the Ruler dropped the stick and walked over to one of the big, stainless steel sinks in which he washed his hands quickly. Nodding towards the guard next to the door in the wall another two guards joined him and the door quietly slid open. He wasn't going to waste time; he was going to talk to the slayers now. He'd hoped that a little torture would clear his mind, but it'd only made him angrier. Torturing normal humans just wasn't fun; they gave out so quickly.

Stopping in front of the large metal door that signaled the end of the hallway, he waited for the door to open and then stepped into the semi-dark room. He liked the way torches made rooms, especially dungeons, torture and bedrooms, look gothic and dark, so he'd had torches put up high on the walls of the prep-room as well.

He stepped inside, followed closely by his three guards. Even if he didn't particularly like having his guards so close by all the time, Callas wasn't going to risk being this close to the two slayers. The door slid shut behind them again and he eyed the interior. It was bland, boring in his eyes, but he knew that to any slave this room seemed a little way from paradise.

The two slayers were curled up around each other on the big bed, sleeping as soundly and peacefully as their situation could ever allow. Callas walked up to the bed with a distasteful look on his face and watched the two girls for a few seconds. After the first couple of months of being Ruler he'd developed a theory that a slave that had some attachment to another was less likely to have themselves killed. His advisors had, in nicer words, declared him insane and stupid when he'd put two slaves together in each cell, who would have to work together, eat together and sleep together. Human emotion was a wonderful thing to exploit, and to his advisors' dismay, the death rate from suicide and stupidity was a lot less than expected. But he'd never expected these two to develop a much closer bond, it was getting too close for his comfort at times.

He growled and snatched the arm closest to him, yanking on it until one slayer was lying on the floor to his feet. She pushed herself up on her elbows, looking at him with big eyes that narrowed dangerously upon recognition. Eyes that held so much pain it made his stomach tingle; pain he knew he'd put there and he grinned.

"Slayer," he growled and pushed her away from him with his foot. He didn't like to be touched by slaves, it disgusted him. Looking up he saw that a guard had already grabbed the other slayer, holding her in a chokehold and Callas motioned for someone to take hold of the blonde at his feet. With both slayers subdued he walked into the middle of the room, an evil grin on his face. Physical torture wasn't the only thing he knew how to do, mind games and emotional torture were high up on his chart as well. The terrorists had him strung out, he hated not knowing what to do and he had to find some way to pay back some of the pain those damn people were causing him.

"What do you know about the…those freedom fighters?" Callas spat out the phrase as if it left a bad aftertaste in his mouth and watched as the two girls' faces changed from fear to utter confusion. The chances of them knowing anything were slim, but he figured them as good a place to start as any.

"Wha…they're only a myth…right?" the brunette asked incredulously, looking into his eyes deeply. Maybe she was hoping they were real, maybe she was already creating an escape plan in her head. But he didn't care.

"No, they're not. That little attack you two witnessed on the marketplace, well that was courtesy of 'The Freedom Fighters'. And I want you two little worms to tell me everything you know about them."

The slayers looked at each other and then back at the Ruler. "We don't really know anything except for the stories the slaves tell. The fighters help slaves escape from the dungeons and the slaves in return help in the cause to fight for freedom. Really, we don't know much, we thought it was a myth until now," the blonde fell in, her words hurried, as if she were trying to please him and get rid off him as quickly as possible.

Callas sighed and shook his head; walking over to the brunette he leaned close to her face and bared his fangs to her, "I don't think that's all you know. I think you're keeping something from me." She leaned away, her neck clearly in his view; Callas could see her jugular pulsating under pale skin. Slayer blood, he had always wanted some. Of course, he'd have to watch it and not kill the slayers in the process. Making a mental note of having to get some of their blood during the next torture session, he walked back over to the blonde.

"No really! We don't know anything, I swear on my life. We don't know anything…," she practically begged him to reconsider her statement. Callas loved the fear he put into her eyes and for a moment almost forgot why he was questioning them. He realized that more likely than not they were telling the truth, but that was no reason to go easy on them now.

"Take one of them away. A couple nights apart should clear up their memories, don't you think so, Vannir?" Callas smirked and turned to his old friend standing next to him, who could only shake his head.

But the guards holding the two girls nodded, they'd been given an order and were going to follow that. The guard holding the brunette snapped shackles around her wrists and gave her a quick slap for good measure as she started to beg.

"Don't. Please don't take me away…please…You can kill me, anything, just don't take me away," she pleaded, tears running down her cheeks and Callas laughed. This was better than expected.

"Faith, goddammit don't say that! Are you crazy? You can't just let them kill you!" the blonde yelled, her voice laced with fury and she pulled on the hold the guard had on her arms.

"Why…," the brunette slayer cried pathetically and dropped to the floor, only to be kicked and shoved by the guard that was trying to drag her out the door. She punched at him, managing to push the guard away long enough to crawl over to Callas, and he looked down at her with a grim look on his features.

"Please," she begged, her hands clasping around his black pants, although she must've known how much he hated contact from slaves, "please don't take me away."

Callas looked down at her and spat in her face, right before the back of the guard's large claw-like hand connected with her jaw and the sound rang loudly through the room. Opening his mouth to make another comment as the girl leaned over on her hands, spitting out blood and maybe some teeth, Callas felt a hand clench his shoulder tightly.

"Callas, I think that's enough."

The Ruler stared with open shock into his guard friend's face and thought of saying something else entirely. But finally he decided against it and shrugged off the hand angrily, before storming towards the door. He was angry, pissed, any word would've done, but he also knew that hurting the slayers wasn't the way to deal with those goddamn terrorists.

"Leave the fucking maggots! And bring 'em some food, for god's sakes!" Callas yelled and walked out the room, but not without kicking over the blonde slayer that the guard had dropped to the floor as well.

As the door slid shut again the Ruler turned to Vannir and tried hard to fight the urge to hit the demon's head against the stone wall. Hard and repeatedly.

"What the hell is up with you?!" he screamed instead, but the demon didn't even wince once.

He'd had just about enough of Callas; it wasn't unusual for a ruler to torture slaves occasionally, but Vannir had found himself feeling sympathy for those two girls over the past few days more than ever. And he wasn't a coward or weakling, either; torture was fine by him.

"Callas, you've taken it as far as you can go with those girls. They are human, they can't survive this crap for much longer, Callas. You know, I wasn't worried when you became Ruler, you've always had a clear head and good ideas. But this…this thing has gotten to your goddamn head. Stop and think for a minute, you've got a real problem on your hands. Those terrorists aren't going to stop now, you should do something about them. I will take care of the slayers, they are not your problem for now."

His friend's voice was calm and Callas knew he was right. Scoffing he turned around, giving in this time and walked out of the tunnel into the torture chamber. Punching the wall as one final outlet of his rage, Callas roared with pain and anger.

"Fuck!"

Vannir shook his head and sighed. Young people were always so impulsive these days. Heaving another sigh he figured he'd better go get some food for the slayers before someone let them starve to death.

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"How do we reach them?"

She sighed and leaned back against the cool stone, closing her eyes. They'd gotten together some of the ringleaders of their group to figure out what to do about the newfound information. While the other guys marveled at the idea of having two Vampire Slayers fight for them to kill a vampire; she was thinking about her best friend. The best friend she thought she'd lost two years ago when the Army had taken them away.

Smiling at Tara she listened only half-heartedly to the conversation about breaking into the dungeons to free the slayers. The news about Buffy and Faith being alive had been a little hard to believe at first. She could still remember the Day of the New Era, the day Giles had died and they'd all seen each other for the last time. The Army had taken her and Tara to a different location than Buffy and Faith. Apparently they'd not seen it fit to restrain the other captives like they had the slayers and only thrown a bunch of them into cages. The two witches had escaped their wooden cage with little difficulty, thanks to their magic. But they'd both believed the two slayers to be long dead; they had even considered searching for the new slayers that would've been called and to train them.

And while Willow still wasn't too fond of Faith, she couldn't've been happier to hear that the brunette was still alive as well. At least it meant that the two didn't have to be alone in captivity. Buffy and Faith had had a pretty strong bond every since that night they wanted to 'save' Faith at the Bronze, but all that crap that had happened took a toll on that connection. Faith had still been in prison when the first news about the opening of the Hellmouth reached their ears and to their dislike had escaped to help them fight off the evil. The battle of good and evil had lasted almost two weeks; two gruesome weeks in which their families had been slaughtered, then Xander, Anya and the LA gang. They'd staked Angel right in front of Buffy and Faith, a harsh hit for both slayers and it only went downhill after that. When the Day of the New Era had finally come all of them had been more than exhausted, but the bond between the two slayers was better than ever.

"Will, what do you think?" Jabe asked her and she shook off her thoughts, no time for that now.

"Uh…what?"

"How do we find out where they are?" he asked again, his voice soft, tired.

"We ask them," the redhead smiled and received confused stares from all but one person.

"How?" another guy asked and gave the two witches a look.

"They have uh…slayer dreams right?" Tara asked; Willow had told her about the slayer connection a couple of times.

"Yeah, maybe we can cast a spell, I could enter the dreams of one of them, maybe even both. We just have to know their general location, and that's the castle, so we're good," Willow smiled and took Tara's hand; she was excited but also a little bit afraid of seeing her friend, her friends she corrected herself, again.

"Alright, what do we need?" Jabe asked, pushing himself up easily.

After listing the magical items needed, the blonde sent a couple of people to gather the stuff and looked at the witches with a triumphant smile.

"You gonna do this in the circle? It'll be better protection, and if people know what we're trying to do, it'll give them some hope. What do you think?"

The redhead considered and looked at the circle. It was a big empty space that remained uncovered by blankets in the middle of the large cave. It was used for most of the harder spells; it offered protection all the way around if any guards should miraculously find them. She nodded slowly and looked at her girlfriend.

Taking a deep breath Willow walked out of the cave to watch the sun set that was already glowing a bright orange and purple. She could see the towers of the castle loom in the distance and hoped more than anything that the two slayers were alive.

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She stood, slowly, and ran a hand through her blonde hair. Her eyes wandered across the red carpet to the body rocking back on forth on the floor at the other end of the room. Buffy cocked her head and watched the brunette silently.

She didn't know what to do anymore, what to say to provide a little comfort. So she stood there, watching the other girl cry. The sadness that had settled in her heart didn't threaten to overwhelm her; it was merely a presence that was choking her, just enough to still let her breathe. Buffy closed her eyes, wishing tears would overcome her, but there weren't any. She didn't know if there weren't any left or if she was too depressed to cry. But what did it matter, anyway? They were stuck here, probably until eternity if Callas didn't kill them sooner or later.

The blonde walked up next to Faith, standing there with a blank look on her face. It was as if all words had fled her mind, nothing wanted to escape her lips to provide some comfort for the younger girl. The brunette stopped rocking and looked up at Buffy with big, teary eyes that held only questions to which she didn't have any answers. The older slayer was at a complete loss, a lack of thought and comprehension.

But when she looked into the brown eyes she realized there were no words needed. Faith offered her a weak smile and Buffy returned it, lowering herself to the floor as well. A head gently leaned against her shoulder and Buffy wrapped her arm around slender shoulders.

The two slayers sat in each other's comfort. In silence.

--------------------------

He watched as the door slid open and entered the room, balancing a tray dangerously on his left hand, his right hand on his gun. Although he didn't think the slayers would attack him, it was better to be safe than sorry. The door slid shut behind him and Vannir turned his head to see the two girls still sitting on the floor, the blonde with her arms around the other girl. Shaking his head, he approached them cautiously and walked around the brunette's side to face them.

The blonde looked at him, her eyes holding no expression at all and Vannir had to admit it scared him a little. It was as if she was dead, maybe a robot. Setting the tray onto the floor, he looked at them. Seeing the brunette's hands still cuffed together by the shackles, Vannir pulled out his key and kneeled down in front of them. As he reached for the girl's hands she shrunk away from him, like a scared animal. And he realized that was all they had been reduced to. Animals locked in a cage.

Vannir held up the key to indicate what he planned to do and reached for her wrists. The younger girl slowly held out her hands and he slowly unlocked the shackles. Vannir took the shackles and realized her hands were shaking as she pulled them back. He got up and grabbed the only chair that stood to the side in the room, sitting down on it in front of the girls. They both looked at him with curiosity, but he could see the underlying fear of a beating or some other cruel punishment.

"Your name's Buffy, right?" he asked the blonde and she nodded, her eyes becoming hard and uncaring. The guards never engaged in small-talk with slaves, the only times they had questions they had nothing good in mind.

"Yes, sir," she answered nevertheless and pulled the brunette closer to her.

"How old are you?" Vannir really didn't know what he was doing or why he was doing it. Guard-slave interaction was strictly prohibited, but he couldn't help the curiosity he felt. Back in the days before the New Era the slayer had been feared by all demons, and Vannir had had his own share of horror-stories fed to him by his parents when he was little.

"21," the blonde slayer, Buffy, replied dryly and gave him an icy stare.

He'd known the slayer was young, but she was practically still a kid, had been a kid before Callas had captured them. Looking at the other slayer he watched her tentatively touch the dark bruise that was forming on her jaw and then looked back to the blonde.

"She's 18, just in case you're wondering," Buffy answered his unasked question and there was no way she could've missed the way his eyebrows hit the top of his head at that.

The blonde grimaced and brushed some strands of hair out of her eyes, "Faith, tell him in how many days your birthday is."

The younger girl let out a small chuckle and looked into his purple eyes with deep brown ones, before answering, "Two."

Vannir swallowed and looked away. Maybe this was why guards were not supposed to talk to slaves, after all demons had emotions, too. They weren't supposed to see these slaves as living things with feelings and emotions, with families, friends and lovers that missed them or had been killed. He sighed and focused on them again, his eyes trained on the dark bruise.

"Umm, Faith…right?" he asked, his voice soft and almost gentle; a tone he reserved for his family and not for his slaves.

She nodded, looking up at him only fleetingly to again eye the food that was sitting on the tray in front of them. He'd managed to get a variety of foods from the kitchens, from soup to apples and even some candy he'd found. Vannir had figured those two could use something to get a little of their strength back. He knew it was stupid to think it, but he had realized that if the slayers got strong enough to kill Callas, he wouldn't mind at all. Maybe someone better fit to govern the world would have power.

"Do you need a doctor to look at your jaw?" he asked, leaning forward in the chair to rest his elbows on his knees. Taking a quick glance at his watch, he realized it was getting late. His wife would've made dinner by now and his family was probably waiting.

She shook her head, mumbling something about healing fast and reached for an apple on the tray, all the while watching him. He smiled to encourage her and the young girl grabbed the apple and started eating it quickly. Buffy had been eyeing the food as well, but she was now watching him instead.

"You have family?" she asked, her bitter voice holding a tone of sadness.

He nodded, looking at her with a sigh, "Yeah, I've got a wife and two kids. My oldest daughter just turned 18…"

Vannir didn't know exactly why he was sharing his personal life with the slayers, but now he knew something about them that made them different from all other slaves. They had names, ages and feelings. And how would he look at his daughter tonight when she hugged him and kissed him and know that he helped torture a girl her age. How could he lie next to his wife and know that he had probably killed the mothers of two young girls back during the fight between good and evil. How could he look in the mirror in the morning and claim to be a loving dad.

"My…mom died a while ago. Some of the first demons escaping from the Hellmouth killed her. My father, well he was like a father to me, he was killed on the Day of the New Era. All our friends died in between then," the blonde spoke quietly, avoiding his eyes and picked up a piece of bread from the tray.

"I'm…sorry to hear that," he answered softly and winced as her cold eyes met his.

"Are you really?"

The guard opened his mouth to respond, hesitating, but she cut him off, "You just have to say that, right? I mean, how else are you gonna go home tonight and look your kids into their eyes; how else are you gonna kiss your wife goodnight?"

Vannir swallowed and looked to the ground; it was as if she'd read his thoughts exactly. He didn't remember hearing or reading anything about slayers having mind-reading abilities, so he attributed it to pure coincidence. Wondering if he should respond, lie to them, he stood up. It was better to just not say anything at all.

"I'll be back in the morning. Enjoy the food, girls," he spoke, his voice back to the tone he used with his slaves, but this time it held none of the harshness from before.

The blonde nodded at him and gave him a small smile that made him feel just that little bit better. Leaving the room quietly Vannir walked down the corridor as the door slid shut and couldn't wait to get home and see his family.

--------------------------

"Faith?"

"Yeah, B?"

"You hungry?"

The brunette laughed, a laugh that came from deep in her throat and rolled over Buffy in waves, taking her with it. She thought she'd never heard a more beautiful sound in the whole world.

"You bet'cha, Buff," Faith finally replied and eyed the blonde as she picked up the food-laden tray.

"Well then, come on we'll eat in bed and tell bad stories."

The younger girl smiled, got up and followed Buffy to the bed, where she immediately dropped into the soft pillows. The blonde followed suit, handing the tray to Faith, who she figured was really only after the candy.

"No candy until you eat some real food," the older girl reprimanded her counter-part with a grin and received only a whine.

"But mooom…" Faith looked at her with puppy dog eyes, earning a soft swat on the arm from the blonde.

Buffy leaned back against the pillows, taking a deep breath. They had always been able to get each other to smile no matter how grave the situation.

Maybe there was some light left in them after all.

--------------------------

She took a deep breath and situated herself in the circle. This was by no means going to be easy, and to be truthful, she was even a little worried. Of course it was dangerous, everyone had been telling her so, but she couldn't just forget about it.

Willow sighed and turned to look at her girlfriend. Tara was standing outside the circle, a small smile playing on her lips and the redhead couldn't help but smile herself. She knew that Tara understood the necessity of this, the dire need for Willow to find out if Buffy and Faith were really alive. No matter how dangerous it was.

While the other people sitting around the circle, waiting in anticipation, believed that she was doing this for the greater good of the people, the redhead really had different reasons. As selfish as she felt, she just wanted her best friend back. There really was no greater good to it, but if in the process of getting Buffy back the two slayers killed Callas, well there was nothing wrong with that.

Reaching out her hand, Willow pulled her girlfriend close to her one last time before the spell would begin and the circle was not to be broken. Pressing her lips to Tara's soft ones, Willow couldn't've felt more loved and secure; no matter what was to happen.

Offering a smile to the blonde, Willow started the spell as Jabe created the magical circle around her.

Now all there was left was hope. And some wicked strong magic.

--------------------------

"Hmmm," she murmured into the soft neck in front of her and wrapped her arms tighter around the body that was covering hers, "you smell good."

A soft chuckle reached her ears and as soon as she opened her eyes she was looking into deep brown ones that twinkled mischievously. The brunette propped her head up on her hand and grinned at Buffy.

"Sleep well?"

"Well I know I wasn't cold; with my little heat-blanket named Faith covering me," Buffy mocked the brunette and pushed her off gently, before getting out of bed.

They were always waking up in bed in their dream world and had yet to figure out why. It probably had something to do with the way their minds perceived the two worlds, the way this made it seem they could've just had really bad nightmares about being slaves. She got dressed quickly and went into the kitchen to start the coffee machine. Buffy had never much liked coffee, and neither had Faith, but just the smell of it reminded them of mornings; it reminded Buffy especially of mornings with her mom.

The blonde stood at the counter, her back to the bedroom door and leafed through the newspaper without much interest, as two strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind. Faith rested her chin on Buffy's shoulder, pulling their bodies closer together and sighed.

"Buffy?"

"Hmmm?"

"You know, this might sound really stupid, but…there's no one I'd rather be enslaved and locked up with than you."

The blonde smiled at the sound of the weird statement, but also recognized the serious tone in the younger girl's voice and turned around in Faith's arms to look at her.

"I think that was the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me," she whispered after a long silence. She smiled and laughed as Faith started cracking up.

"Wow…then you've been missing out all your life, B," the younger slayer laughed and Buffy fell into the laughter as well.

"But seriously, I feel the same way Faith," Buffy whispered and placed a gentle kiss on the brunette's forehead, before wrapping her arms tightly around the taller girl.

They stood in silence in each other's arms until the doorbell rang. Both pulled away slightly and looked at the other incredulously.

"Uh, B?"

"Faith?"

"Is it just me or did our door just make a weird sound?"

The blonde laughed and nodded, "Yeah, baby. What do you think we should do about it, huh?"

Faith grinned back and slipped out of the embrace to walk to the door. "We open it?"

"Good girl," Buffy smiled, but she was cautious. No one had ever been at their door in two years; it was actually impossible. Their minds weren't capable of creating other people, it had always been just them. She followed Faith to the door as the brunette pushed down the door handle and opened the door.

But what they saw made their eyes just about pop out of their sockets. The two slayers stared at the person standing in their doorway in disbelief.

"Willow?"

"Buffy."

_To be continued…_

-----

Yes, I know. Another Cliffhanger; and I'm not at all sorry. Do you all still want more or is it starting to bore the crap out of you? Let me know…


	4. The Writings on the Wall

So, I realize this hasn't been updated in about 4 years and chances are there aren't many that still even remember this story, but what the hell. I'd pretty much forgotten this story even existed, and it took an impassioned plea to remind me. I haven't exactly been writing a lot, mostly due to my job, so I apologize to everyone that I left hanging for 4 years. For those of you who still remember this story and are thrilled it has returned, thank 'You Don't But Thanks Any' for reminding me I am a lazy fool and inspiring me to post. Now, on with the show...

Summary: A reunion that is doomed by one promise, the promise to free the Slayers. Can the terrorists really keep that promise?

**Gethsemane IV - The Writings on the Wall**

The blonde was enveloped in a hug before she could even fully register that it really was her friend standing in the doorway. The two girls hugged for what seemed like eternity, but what were only a few minutes in reality. Buffy pulled the redhead into the apartment and closed the door, a smile plastered on her face that didn't seem to be erasable. Willow looked at her best friend with a smile, she could still hardly believe it, but her smile faltered a little as she saw Faith, standing off to the side.

Faith was standing near the kitchen counter, not wanting to interrupt and not really wanting to be there. Willow had never ever liked or accepted her, and the brunette knew that all the pain she had caused the Scoobies only aggravated the redhead's feelings towards her. She'd hoped that she could be forgiven at least someday, something that hadn't seemed very likely when she'd first escaped from prison to help them during the fight. Everyone had warmed up to her again, even Xander and Buffy's mom, Giles and Buffy herself. Everyone except Willow, who seemed to hate her with a passion until the last day they saw each other.

The brunette looked up and into the eyes of the witch; she didn't know what to say or what to do. This was Buffy's friend, not hers.

"Willow…uh," she started, nervously brushing a strand of hair behind her ear and stepping back slightly as the redhead advanced towards her with an unreadable look. Willow had always been jealous of their slayer connection and that she was threatening to take Buffy away. Faith wasn't sure that their newer and even closer bond would be much to the witch's liking.

Faith tried backing away even more but the counter, as well as Buffy's eyes ,kept her from it. The blonde seemed happier than she had in years and Faith felt a pang of jealousy that it hadn't been her to make Buffy that happy. She stopped and looked at the redhead who stood less than two feet from her, speechless. But before she knew what was going on, there was a redheaded Wicca hugging her.

"Hey Faith," Willow said with a smile and pulled away from the stunned brunette.

"Uh, hey Red…ah Willow," Faith mumbled, still confused and shocked that the witch had hugged her.

"I missed that," Willow laughed and looked at Buffy who was still smiling like the cat who ate the canary.

"Missed what?" the brunette asked, pushing herself off the counter and walking closer to Buffy. It was weird, but nowadays she needed the blonde close to her to feel anywhere near alright. It had scared her at first, Faith had never needed anybody anywhere or for anything, but she knew that Buffy understood and didn't make a big deal out of it. They both needed each other and it had just become their way of life.

"Your little names for everyone."

Buffy snickered and pulled her best friend over to the couch, sitting down with Willow next to her. The blonde still had a hard time believing it; Willow was here right in front of her when all this time she'd believed her to be dead.

"Yeah, imagine this, though….She learned my whole name!" Buffy grinned and looked at Faith who actually blushed. She didn't think she'd ever seen anything cuter than the brunette blushing.

"You're kidding!" Willow exclaimed and watched the red creep into the brunette's cheeks as well. Things needed to be discussed, no doubt about it, but that didn't mean they couldn't just goof around for a few minutes. After all they hadn't seen each other in two years and they just deserved this. And Willow could see that Buffy knew as well that serious questions were to be asked and serious answers to be given eventually.

"Buffy…" Faith whined and pouted, making the other girls laugh even harder.

The blonde held out her hand and Faith slowly walked over to them, taking Buffy's hand in hers. She was pulled into the older girl's lap gently, leaning back against Buffy with half of her body and the other half against the arm-rest. Wrapping an arm around the brunette's waist to keep her from falling off, but also as a comfort for herself, Buffy looked at Willow with a smile.

"So, are you gonna tell us how you got here, and how you are still alive when we thought you were dead?"

The redheaded nodded and looked at the two slayers. They were so close to each other it painfully reminded her of Tara and herself, the way the little, subconscious touches just remind you the other person is there, the looks and smiles that are meant to portray all the love for that person in them. Two years ago she would've been jealous of the connection, of the closeness between the two, but now she thought it was nothing but innocent and sweet. Willow could sense that right now they were nothing but two people who needed each other to survive and therefore were closer than anyone else she'd ever seen; but that didn't mean there wasn't more that hadn't been acknowledged yet. It was definitely time to get them out of the dungeons.

"Well, there's this group of ex-slaves that call themselves the Freedom Fighters and we…Tara and I, I mean…we were the ones that helped create it."

"Wait, you put that bomb in the marketplace?" Faith asked curiously; she had never pegged the two witches to be very violent.

The redhead shook her head quickly, "No, that was never planned by the group. Some brainless idiots that live with us figured we'd appreciate them getting Callas pissed. It was a very irresponsible and stupid thing to do."

"Yeah, no kidding. Getting Callas pissed is just about the stupidest thing anyone can do," the brunette replied solemnly, rubbing her jaw subconsciously. And just as subconsciously, but still very noticeable to Willow, Buffy tightened her hold on the younger girl.

"But we do have those guys to thank for finding you. They were watching their little masterpiece and noticed that there were guards protecting two slaves, something obviously highly unusual and I overheard them discussing it when they returned to our place. They gave very general descriptions, it was more along the lines of them drooling over a certain brunette and having acknowledged that the other slave was blonde. Thank god I still had a picture of us from way back; they immediately recognized you two."

Faith chuckled and looked at Buffy mischievously, "I'm still hot!"

The blonde and the redhead looked at each other and burst out laughing, which caused Faith to pout once again, "What!"

"Anyway," Willow smiled, her tone of voice still holding amusement but neither of the two slayers failed to notice the seriousness underlining it, "we've had plans for a while now to storm the dungeons tomorrow and free some slaves. The attack on the marketplace was a dumb move on our part, because now Callas has heightened security in and around the castle, including the dungeons. But ever since we found out you're both still alive, our number one priority is to free the slayers, as they put it."

"You're just gonna run into the castle and take slaves with you? There's a lot of guards, I've seen them; hell half of them have probably beaten me one time or another. I don't know if a bunch of ex-slaves with no weaponry are gonna do much damage," Faith mumbled with a tired voice, looking away as she felt two sets of eyes stare at her intently.

"I know," the redhead continued, sensing that Faith felt more than a little uncomfortable, "some of us really don't agree with this plan. However, it has worked before, with some success. We've freed a total of maybe two hundred slaves so far; some of our members know how to fight and some of them are demons in exile that believe in our cause. And we do have weapons, a lot of them are stolen or handmade; of course they're not perfect, but definitely better than nothing."

Buffy shook her head, trying to think of all the reasons this was too dangerous. She'd just gotten her best friend back, she didn't want to lose her again. The blonde knew that Willow was a powerful witch and could probably do more damage than five sword-yielding guards, but the thought of the redhead in a 'prison' riot, which was basically what the attack would amount to, scared her. Faith had told her some stories about her time in prison, although few, since the brunette still didn't like to speak of her past, they still scared the crap out of her.

"Will, we're not even in the dungeons," Buffy finally remembered, feeling the sadness creep into her bones at the thought of being stuck with Callas until their death.

'What…why? You are slaves right?" the redhead asked perplexed; she knew from reliable sources that all slaves were kept in the dungeons.

"Oh yeah, we're slaves alright. Callas, he uh…he likes torture. A lot. And Slayers make better torture objects than the average human slaves since we can stand more pain and heal faster. I think he might just hate us as well," the older slayer responded quietly, looking away from her friend's eyes and tightening her hold on Faith, who, in return, did the same.

"Oh my god, Buffy. I'm so sorry, I had no idea. Are you…are you guys alright?" Willow's voice had changed to worry and she moved closer to the other two girls.

Faith looked up and blinked a few times with a yawn, before nodding slowly. The blonde gave Willow a worried look back and sighed; she didn't know if there really was an answer to that question. She was just about to say something, anything at all, when a head hit her shoulder a little harder than she would've liked.

"Faith?" she inquired softly, looking at Willow, who just shrugged.

"B…I think…I think I might be tired," Faith's words were slightly slurred, her head still resting on the blonde's shoulder. Buffy chuckled quietly and moved, so the brunette was lying back in her arms and giving the blonde a view of her face.

"Well, maybe I should bring you to bed, huh?" Buffy teased, but the brunette was too close to unconsciousness to even respond.

The older slayer stood up and picked up the other girl in her arms. She threw a glance at Willow, indicating to her she'd be right back and carried Faith into the bedroom. But the redhead hadn't missed the worry creeping over her friend's face as she looked at her.

* * *

"What are we going to do?" he asked and looked at the demon sitting to his right.

They were gathered around a long table; Callas as the Ruler sitting at the head, the rest of them demons and vampires in high position of the court. Callas had called a meeting of magistrates and high-ranking military officials to discuss the situation at hand. The attack on the marketplace had definitely been unexpected and they feared the worst.

"Over a hundred people are dead, most of them common citizens, the marketplace is in shambles and it'll take weeks, not to think of money, to rebuild it. People are afraid, what are we going to tell them?" he raised his voice a little this time, nothing else seemed to work.

"I say we dispatch groups of guards and well-trained fighters to track down those terrorists and execute them all publicly!" one demon yelled and a few shouts of approval were heard.

"Gentlemen," his voice brought silence with it as he spoke and the Ruler continued, "there is no doubt that we have a problem on our hands. The terrorists are a danger to everyone's well-being and we have to take them down. Now, we already know an attack on the dungeons has been planned; they have warned us of this and have no reason to lie. Security has been increased and slaves have been chained to their cells to make it harder to release them. But what are we going to do to deter those people from attacking us again?"

There was silence in the room after Callas had spoken, there always was. Slight murmurs could be heard of demons discussing options, until a hand hit the wooden table with a loud thump. Everyone winced and looked back at their Ruler expectantly, if not a little afraid.

"You are all imbeciles! I ask myself what I pay you for; I have to do everything myself. Here is the solution, gentlemen: We contact some of our human allies and lock them in the dungeons as slaves. When the terrorists attack, we make sure they take at least one Trojan horse with them. Our moles will report back to us with the terrorists' location and we will ambush them, killing them all."

Everyone looked stunned for a few seconds, trying to process the information, until the table was busy with discussion. The idea had been accepted, no one knew if this was because it really was an excellent idea or no one dared to undermine Callas. The Ruler separated them into groups to take care of the different aspects of the plan.

Sitting back in his chair Callas smiled satisfied as the room turned busy with demons working to meet his expectations. Those terrorists didn't know what they were getting themselves into.

* * *

"B?"

"Yes, Faith?" the blonde asked, pulling the blankets over the other girl's body.

"I don't wanna miss this time with you."

Buffy smiled and brushed strands of hair out of the brunette's face, "You're not missing anything, babe. We've got all the time in the world, you and me. But right now you need some rest, we need you to be a big, bad slayer for when Will is gonna help us escape, alright?"

Faith sighed and nodded slowly, snuggling into the blankets. The blonde leaned down, kissing her forehead gently and smoothed out the blankets.

"Sweet dreams, F," Buffy whispered as she slipped out the door and the brunette was already asleep as the door clicked shut quietly.

Walking up to her best friend with an exhausted smile, Buffy dropped back into the couch with a sigh. She looked at Willow and smiled again, shaking her head.

"You guys are pretty close, huh?" the redhead asked, placing her hand on Buffy's to make sure her friend knew she wasn't upset about this.

The blonde contemplated this for a second, although there wasn't any doubt in her mind about the answer, she wanted to say this right. "Yeah, Will. I mean, she's been there every second of every day ever since we were taken. But it isn't just that, I mean, sure we'd be close because we wouldn't have a choice but to get along…but…with Faith this is so much more. I feel like half of me is missing when she isn't around, it's almost like I can't do anything without her around. It's scary at time, but she understands and she doesn't say anything and neither do I."

Willow nodded, she'd figured as much but she also knew there was more. The look from earlier, the worry that haunted her friend's face told her as much. And she wasn't disappointed, because Buffy continued.

"But I'm worried about her, Will. I mean, you saw her, her mind was getting too weak to keep up the illusion and she fell 'asleep'; that's never happened before. She's getting so weak, it hurts me to see. Callas, he used to switch back and forth which one of us to torture, but he's used her more than once in a row. She's still not healed from that and then she got hurt during the marketplace thing, not to mention the way the guards beat on her. I just don't think she can hold out much longer, Will. And I don't know what I would do if she died."

The redhead wrapped her arms around her best friend as Buffy started to sob. The witch and the slayer sat in each other's embrace, comforting the other and both were thinking the exact same thought.

Now more than ever was it time to get them out of the dungeons.

* * *

He gave them the hand signal and waived them forward. The fighters in his group ran past him and climbed up the huge stone wall that separated them from the dungeons. Checking the perimeter again for any guards, he followed them as quickly as possible and then pulled the rope up as he landed inside of the castle walls. It was pitch black and all of them that were pure human had a hard time seeing. Once again he thanked the PTB for making him a vampire and he looked around. His team relied mostly on his enhanced night vision and he wasn't planning on letting them down or getting any of them killed.

Waiting a few minutes hiding in the bushes next to the wall, he made sure that the other ten teams had had enough time to enter the courtyard as well. There were probably a hundred freedom fighters actively included in the attack on the castle, along with another fifty doing spells and creating distractions at various parts of the city to keep the guards away. If this was to go as planned they might have 50 more members by the end of the night, but, more importantly, two slayers.

Willow had entered the dreams of the two slayers and found out where they were being held. She was with the group doing a sort of invisibility spell for the teams that allowed them greater movement without being seen by any guards.

"Casca?" someone whispered and tapped his shoulder; the others were getting anxious and he didn't like it. If this plan was to work they couldn't just risk storming in and being seen, no matter how much these kids wanted to fight.

"Shh, we're going in when I say so," he hissed back and heard a unified grumble from the boys behind him. Humans, he shook his head and narrowed his eyes as he saw a guard walk across the courtyard.

Casca waited for the uniform to vanish and then urged his men on. The entrance to the dungeon was across the courtyard, more than a hundred feet away, but everything seemed clear. They ran across the sandy ground, holding onto the swords and other makeshift weapons, while he hastily kept looking left and right for any signs of danger. The first ones had already reached the heavy double doors that led to the dungeon, when suddenly there was a shout to their right.

"Hey! Stop!" A demon guard was quickly approaching them, hand on his weapon and Casca wasn't able to see whether that was a gun or only a sword. They knew that only higher positioned guards were given guns; the lower officers had to rely on medieval weaponry such as swords. So he drew his own sword and yelled at his men to get the door open as quickly as possibly while he'd fend off the guard.

The uniformed demon rushed at him with a yell and their swords hit each other with a loud clang. Casca blocked the hits from the guard easily at first, but the demon was larger and stronger than him and he knew there was no way he could win this. Dodging another swipe of the silvery blade he braced himself for his end as the sharp end of the sword raced towards his neck at almost lightening speed. He closed his eyes and expected to turn to dust in a second, when instead he felt drops of warm liquid splatter across his face.

The vampire opened his eyes and saw the headless corpse of the guard standing in front of him, still holding the sword until it fell onto the ground with a loud thud. He nodded gratefully towards his friend Jabe who held a bloody sword in his own hands and followed him back to the doors that finally swung open.

But instead of revealing the dark corridors leading along the cells they were greeted by a rush of at least a dozen guards storming out at them, wielding their weapons.

Casca gripped the hilt of his sword anxiously, realizing they'd set foot right into a trap.

* * *

"B?"

"Yes, F?" the blonde asked quietly, her fingers running undeterminable rhythms through silky dark hair.

"Do you really think they're going to free us?"

Buffy shifted slightly under the weight of the younger slayer's body against hers, never stopped her continuous stroking of Faith's hair, and contemplated the answer. She could tell Faith the truth, that she really didn't think those freedom fighters could get past all the guards and find them in here. After all, it was harder to break into the castle than the dungeons. But maybe it was better to allow the girl some hope, even if it was fake.

"Buffy?" the brunette's voice catapulted her out of her thoughts and she stared down into the brown eyes as Faith shifted and put her head on the blonde's lap.

"They're not going to come," Faith finally said to herself as much as Buffy and looked away with closed eyes.

"Faith…," the older slayer said and sighed. What was she supposed to say?

"Please don't lie to me Buffy," the brunette whispered and looked back into the blonde's eyes intently.

Swallowing, the older slayer shook her head and stopped both her hands on Faith's head, "No…I…I would never lie to you Faith. But I really don't know. Maybe they are really that good."

She was happy with her answer, because it was the truth and Faith seemed to accept it as well. The brunette snuggled deeper into her arms with a content sigh and Buffy could do nothing but to close her eyes and pray for the first time in her life.

* * *

"Come on, come on!" he yelled and split the chains holding the two slaves to the wall in two with his sword. The two looked confused at him, but recognition soon flooded their eyes and they smiled. The Freedom Fighters were no fairy tale after all.

The dungeon hallway was swarming with Freedom Fighters and guards fighting each other to the last stance. Blood was pooling on the uneven stone floor and running down the walls in masses, while frightened slaves were running around frantically trying to escape. All in all this escape attack hadn't quite worked out like planned. They had walked right into a trap, the dungeons swarming with armed guards that had been waiting for their arrival.

Casca breathed heavily and looked around. At least there were torches lighting the hallway, giving the human fighters a step up from fighting outside in the dark. He and Jabe had been the only ones to survive entering the dungeons from their team; eight young men he'd been fairly close to had died. But they had still won that battle, the demon guards were lying disassembled in the courtyard.

He wiped his hand across his sweaty forehead and left a bloody trail on his skin. The two slaves he'd just freed were already being taken out of the dungeons by one of their fighters and he hoped that they'd at least make it. He knew that they had managed to free some slaves, but the loss they were suffering was already greater than the new manpower gained. It was no use. And there had been no news from the team sent to free the slayers, the most important part of this attack. Jabe had gone with them and he truly hoped his friend was alright.

Shaking his head he fell into the battle with a roar and was immediately surrounded by angry guards wielding swords.

* * *

"Where are the slayers!?" he screamed at the beaten body of a servant under his hands. They'd planned to only kill guards and magistrates, not simple slaves that had to serve the Ruler. But things never went like planned and their team had to fight for their lives to even get into the castle, let alone to the upper levels where the slayers were being held.

Bloodshed was inevitable, but he shuddered at the sight of the blood dripping down the stone steps into little rivers that streamed along the ground. And they still hadn't been able to find the slayers; the castle was like a goddamn maze with all its useless corridors and doors. The number of their team had diminished to seven already, which still meant they were fairing a lot better than the guards.

Jabe spun around and sliced the head cleanly off a guard approaching him. The head bounced down the stairs, splitting open and spilling gray matter onto the pools of blood. The servant stared at him with big eyes and the fighter raises his sword to the neck of the slave dangerously. He was sick of playing games; the whole point of this attack had been to free the slayers and not engage in senseless battles.

"Tell me where the slayers are!" he yelled again, the servant wincing at the gruesome sight of the young man in front of him with the blood-soaked clothes, wild eyes and blood smeared across his skin and clotting his hair.

"I…I really don't know," the slave begged and was thrown down the stairs with a roar from his attacker.

More guards were rushing through the doors to their side, some with guns that were spraying the walls with bullets. The screams of pain were filling his ears and only barely did he escape the mace one demon was swinging at his head. He still couldn't believe they'd walked into a trap like this. After the first realization at the dungeons they should've just left, tried again another time, but Casca had insisted they try to free the slayers anyway. A stupid idea, as it turned out to be. And the invisible spells were turning out to be nothing but a waste of the witches' time; they only worked if the guards didn't know they were there.

Jabe had had enough, they weren't going to win. A better, stronger plan was needed. Possibly a full strength attack on the castle but not like this. Not with seven men that had all been wounded in one way or another. No matter how many demons they killed they just kept coming at them, sharp swords ripping the fighters open in easy swipes. He wasn't going to risk any more of his men's lives, this wasn't a plan anymore. This was fighting a losing battle.

"Fall back!" Jabe yelled and jumped down the stairs, still swinging his sword at anything that came at him that wasn't one of his men.

As they ran from the castle they thought they heard someone laughing, the evil laughter of someone that had won a fight he hadn't even known he was fighting. Jabe stopped and turned before they could reach the wall that surrounded the court. Up high on the balcony illuminated by flaming torches stood Callas, a blood-red cape waving in the breeze, his fangs glittering in the light.

"Carpe diem, my friend!" Callas laughed and Jabe thought the Ruler was looking right at him.

"Seize my ass, motherfucker…," the fighter muttered under his breath and vanished in the trees beside the wall.

It was time to leave.

"Majesty," a guard approached him and bowed as Callas turned to face him.

"Yes?"

"Most of the fighters have cleared out, the live ones anyway."

The Ruler walked past the guard back into his throne-room. He didn't actually have a throne or a crown, but he liked the thought of having a room for a throne. Callas sat on the edge of the large, oak table that was surrounded by over a dozen chairs of the same material.

"Do you have good news for me?" he asked after watching the guards follow him back inside.

The demon sheathed a bloody sword and bowed again; something that was starting to annoy the hell out of Callas. Taking off his helmet the guard nodded and looked from the magistrates in the room back to the Ruler.

"Flavius and Lucas are gone, there are no bodies so we are assuming they were taken," breathed the guard heavily and looked expectantly at the vampire.

"The Eagle has landed!" Callas laughed and nodded approvingly, but only received confused stares from his magistrates and guards alike.

Rolling his eyes the Ruler stood up and threw his hands up, "The Trojan horses have been taken into the city. Or to make it real easy: Our spies are with the fighters."

A general 'oh' rang through the room, which was followed by cheers as the realization hit the guards and magistrates. Callas's plan had worked. The higher positioned people immediately took seats around the table and looked expectantly at Callas who stood at the head.

"Anything else?" he asked, throwing a questioning glance at the guard before sitting down in his seat.

"The Slayers are safe, but we did find out some interesting news."

"What's that?"

"The terrorists want the Slayers, they know they are alive and were looking for them in the castle," the guard mumbled, fearing an outbreak from Callas for having given bad news.

But instead the Ruler grinned and slapped his hands onto the table, "If they want the Slayers, that's what we'll give 'em."

Again he was greeted with dumbfounded stares from everyone in the room and Callas groaned. "What do you mean, majesty?"

"Oh, you'll see. Now that we have our Trojan horses in place…we present the Slayers on a silver platter, wait for the terrorists to attack and then kill them all. In public."

Cheers rang through the room once again and Callas leaned back in his chair with satisfaction. He was having way too much fun being Ruler.

* * *

She practically ran into the cave when she heard of their return. Too say that she was praying was making an understatement and any fool could've seen that there was something she was wanting more than anything right now.

The redheaded girl stopped in front of the blonde young man and eyed him in disgust upon seeing the slime and blood covering almost every part of his body. But she ignored that for the moment, only throwing a cursory glance at the two unfamiliar guys standing behind him.

"Jabe! How'd it go? Did you find them?" she asked, her voice low and it was easy to tell that she was trying not to get her hopes up but had already failed miserably.

He shook his head, putting a hand on her shoulder in a calming gesture, "I'm sorry Will, but we couldn't find them. It was getting too dangerous so I ordered to abort. I'm really sorry."

She shrunk back from him, squeezing her eyes shut tightly to shut out the tears that were burning in her eyes. She had no idea why it hadn't worked; there'd been a copious amount of powerful spells and skilled fighters. But she didn't want to think about that right now, there was always time tomorrow to create another plan. Taking a few moments to regain her composure the witch promised herself that she wouldn't give up, not until she'd freed her friends. Looking up at the fighter with a grim nod she saw the same promise in his eyes and smiled softly at him, before following his outstretched hand to look at the two guys he'd brought.

"These are Flavius and Lukas; they are some of the few slaves we managed to free tonight. Uh, they say they have some magic experience, I thought you might want to see what they know," Jabe explained and smiled as she nodded at him. He excused himself and left the big cave through a hallway to where the river ran underground to wash up.

Willow eyed the two men, smiled and walked up to them, "Well, welcome to the Freedom Fighter Headquarters. I'm sure you'll fit right in, if you need anything just let me know and we'll see about that witchcraft tomorrow alright?"

They both nodded and she walked away to find her girlfriend; there was definitely some need for comfort time. And if she hadn't been so upset and exhausted she might've noticed that the new guys' skin was devoid of the grime so normal on slaves and that they were dressed in rags that appeared way too clean.

_End Part IV_  



	5. Into the Hands of Sinners

**Gethsemane V – Into the Hands of Sinners**

Disclaimers: Buffy, Faith, Willow, Tara and anyone else you recognize from the show belongs to Joss & Co. Everyone else is mine.

Summary: Callas uses the Slayers to set a new trap for the terrorists, but it doesn't go quite as he had hoped. The terrorists attack and freedom awaits….but it's not the freedom anyone had been hoping for.

---

She blinked her eyes open and had to think for a second about where she was. Heaving a sigh as the realization set in, she tried to stretch but a heavy weight on top of her body was holding her down. Her eyes wandered down her body to the slim formed stretched out on top of her and she couldn't help but smile. No matter how grave their situation she always found herself smiling at the sight of the other girl. Nudging the body slightly, she yawned before trying to wake the girl verbally.

"Faith," she tried it softly at first, but the brunette gave no response other than her even breathing.

Shaking the girl gently Buffy called her name again, but received no response. She sighed and rested her arm around the brunette's shoulders, knowing that the girl slept deeply most of the time and was hard to wake. Moving to push the body off her, the blonde suddenly felt the other girl shaking, clinging to her body as if she were afraid.

"Faith?" she mumbled, craning her neck to look at the body draped across hers with a questioning look.

But the brunette did not respond to her, her body shaking almost violently instead, her voice crying out in a heartbreaking plea, "No…noooo. No…mom…."

Buffy was starting to worry and pulled out from underneath, turning the girl onto her back and looked at her face. The brunette's eyes were screwed shut tightly, her mouth twisted into something resembling a snarl, but there were tears running down her cheeks. The blonde had seen the girl have nightmares before, but this was a little extreme even for Faith.

"Faith…come on baby, wake up," the older slayer pleaded softly, stroking the girl's dark hair.

A few whimpers escaped the brunette's throat and Buffy pulled the girl into her arms, hoping that something would finally wake up Faith. She started whispering in the girl's ear, begging her to wake up and gently rocking both their bodies back and forth. Faith's body was shuddering, tremors running through her slim form and Buffy couldn't help but feel worried. She was just considering calling a guard to get the doctor, when she felt a cold, clammy hand wrap around her own resting on Faith's stomach. Looking down quickly Buffy found herself staring into the brown eyes of her friend, eyes that were still shedding tears and holding an incredible sadness to them.

"Faith, hun, are you okay?" she asked softly, wiping away the tears and helping the girl sit up to face her.

For just a split-second as they looked into each others eyes Buffy realized there were no boundaries between them; but the moment vanished just as quickly when Faith looked away. The blonde captured the brunette's hands in hers and looked at her until the younger girl met her gaze. Buffy knew what Faith wanted to say, the usual 'five by five' to hide any feelings, and the old Faith would've done exactly that.

"Yeah…I think. Just a nightmare. Sorry if it worried ya, Buffy," Faith explained and looked away again, and maybe, just maybe, Buffy would've believed her, if she hadn't made one tiny mistake: She'd used her whole name. Although the younger girl had started using Buffy's whole name more and more, the blonde knew it was still only for moments that held some seriousness or when Faith was asking for help. And Buffy wasn't going to let it go that easily.

"You wanna talk about it?" the blonde asked softly, looking at the younger girl's tense back, who'd meanwhile sat up and moved to the edge of the bed.

The brunette didn't answer, making barely a sound besides her breathing and Buffy feared for a second that she'd pushed her too far. It'd been obvious to her from the moment they'd met that Faith didn't like to talk about her past, had never mentioned anything about her childhood or her family. And even as they'd lived in captivity, neither slayer had ever approached the subject. Buffy'd figured the brunette would tell her on her own time, but she was getting tired of waiting. Tired of having to watch the other girl suffer through nightmares like this one. She reached out a hand to rest on Faith's shoulder, and even though she knew it was probably a side-effect from the nightmare Buffy couldn't help but feel hurt when the brunette tensed and pulled away.

"Faith…," she tried again, trying to swallow the lump that was steadily building in her throat. It couldn't be like this between them, this distance was killing her.

The brunette stood up, walking away from the bed with crossed arms, her back still to Buffy. Running a hand through her dark hair, Faith turned around halfway and frowned at the blonde, making the tears on her cheeks very visible in the flickering light of the torches.

"It was nothing, really," Faith whispered, swallowing hard and Buffy could tell it wasn't just nothing. There was definitely something wrong and she didn't just want to give up.

"Faith…you were crying out, you kept saying 'no' over and over again and you mentioned your mom. Please tell me what's wrong," Buffy pleaded, trying to meet the brunette's eyes with her, but Faith looked away again.

The younger girl sighed and held a hand to her eyes, "I was dreaming about…about when my parents died, okay?"

Buffy winced at the harsh tone but decided to ignore it and stood up as well, reaching her arms around the other girl's waist. Tensing up, Faith tried to pull away but the blonde refused to let her go and instead just pulled her closer. After a few seconds the brunette's body slumped and Buffy caught her in her arms, holding the younger girl up until she'd managed to maneuver them over to the bed. The blonde pulled Faith onto her lap and held the girl tightly as she started to cry.

"I'm sorry, Faith," Buffy whispered into the girl's ear softly, knowing that Faith wasn't ready to talk about it, yet. But the fact that the brunette had mentioned at least what her dream had been about, in fact sharing a piece of her past that Buffy hadn't even known about, and the blonde realized their bond was just as strong as ever.

Heaving a sigh the older slayer rocked them both to sleep, hoping that one day Faith would be able to share what had happened.

----------

The crowd was gathering around the small, green demon standing on the stage that was used for executions and sometimes other kinds of entertainment. It had been built off to the side of what used to be the marketplace; the woods almost growing around the stage but still a few feet from it. The marketplace was still being rebuilt, slowly, but it was coming together. But today people weren't here to buy groceries and tools; there'd been a call for them to come out to the marketplace and listen to an announcement. While not everyone was too eager to hear what Callas had to say, most times an announcement meant some entertainment or good news for the citizens.

"Citizens of the Ruler's City, hear me as I bring words from your wise and magnificent Ruler! Today, at 4 on this stage, you are welcome to witness the Test of the Slayers; slayer against slayer in a fight with weapons and rules determined by the great Ruler! Come to see what you have been waiting for since the Day of the New Era; our city's most priced possessions in a battle against…each other. Don't miss out on this event of the year!"

Murmurs ran through the crowd, people wondering what Callas was planning, what he was up to and whether anyone was actually going to miss this. The Ruler was probably not the most liked person in the city, the world even, but curiosity always won out with the citizens. And almost all of them had feared or been told to fear the slayers at one point or another in their lifetime; of course no one could pass up seeing the two girls that had scared generations of demons and vampires. Everyone wanted a good look at what hopefully would turn out to be cruel, bloody and brutal. It wasn't much unlike people driving slowly past car crashes to maybe catch a glimpse of someone hurt or in pain.

The announcer stepped off the stage, followed by two guards, to return to Callas and report that the citizens definitely would be there. But more importantly that he had spotted Flavius and Lukas in the crowd along with two other men, and there was no doubt the terrorists would come to the fight to free the Slayers. Callas would be more than pleased.

----------

"Are you serious? He can't do that…and you guys can't go!" she stated simply, shaking her head at the stupidity of some people. It was one thing to fall into a trap once, but twice would be more than just plain idiocy.

"Willow, this is our chance to free the Slayers! There's gonna be guards around, sure, but if we create a distraction in the crowd we can storm the stage from the woods. They'll never know what hit them, we'll take the Slayers and go, no fighting unless necessary and no attack on Callas even if it seems possible," Jabe explained to her while getting out swords and other weapons from one of the weapon boxes.

The redhead sighed and closed her eyes. They'd failed once at freeing Buffy and Faith, because Callas had known about their attack. She didn't know any other reason for Callas to have the two slayers fight, other than to set another trap for the Freedom Fighters. They'd lost a lot of their members during the attack, but there probably had been even more guards killed. Willow really doubted that the Ruler would have desires to entertain the public so shortly after a loss like that. But then again, maybe Jabe was right. Maybe this was their perfect chance to free Buffy and Faith, especially with the woods backing up right to the stage, giving them perfect opportunities to hide if aided by a few spells.

"Fine, but…take only a few good men. Strong ones, no little boys anymore alright? And Tara and I are coming along, you'll need some spells to hide in the woods. Take weapons that can easily be concealed, Callas doesn't allow weapons on his citizens, and for god's sake make sure everyone knows what's going on. Pick your men and make sure they know who's to distract and who's to free the Slayers. We've got a couple of hours; Tara and I will get the spells ready," Willow made clear to him and Jabe nodded with a smile before hurrying off with the weapons in his hands.

She walked out of their little storage niche in the cave back towards the big communal area, but was called back after a few seconds.

"Willow!"

She turned and looked at Jabe, who came jogging back towards her, "Do you think we should take Lukas and Flavius? They seemed pretty strong and sound like they know how to fight."

The redhead considered the statement for a second and then nodded, watching the blonde guy hurry off again. If she was right about a possible trap they would need all the able manpower they could get.

----------

"Where are we going?" the blonde asked him worriedly as he snapped the shackles shut around her wrists and behind her back.

He looked at her quickly, making sure she didn't have enough lee-way to hit him or kick at him, and pulled the brunette over to connect their chains together. They were scared, it was easy to tell and he knew they were probably figuring it was off to another torture session. Vannir wasn't sure how far off from the truth that really was; he didn't completely agree with this planned fight, but after his last little outburst to Callas he wasn't going to risk any more for a while. Not that he hadn't still learned from the experience with the Slayers, but the guard figured he could do them more good by staying employed with the Army Guard and in his position.

"Outdoor Stage," he replied and took the chain that connected them both in his hand, pulling on it gently until they were following him, their heads lowered.

They were walking and therefore, as slaves, talking was absolutely prohibited, but Vannir could feel the questions basically radiating off them. He led them down one of the many hallways in the castle, past a number of guards stationed as security; ever since the terrorist attack security had been heightened to a maximum. Waiting until they were out of reach of any other guards he slowed his step and let the two girls do the same.

"Callas, he's planned for you two to fight, in public. It's a form of entertainment, fights I mean, and maybe he figured a fight including the Slayers would appease the public after the terrorist attacks," Vannir explained and wiped at his skin with the sleeve of his uniform.

"Who are we fighting?" Buffy asked, raising her head just a little to look up as she narrowed her eyes against the blinding sun.

Vannir slowly turned around and looked from one to the other, before answering, "Each other."

Although he didn't miss the terrified, broken looks on both their faces, he chose to ignore them as he led them through the crowd and onto the stage.

----------

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and looked closely at the crowd around him. There were a lot of people, hundreds probably, and all here to see the fight. It wasn't too often that Callas provided quality entertainment, but he figured that this was more about getting to see the Slayers. Everyone wanted to get a good look at the feared Slayers.

Demons, vampires and some humans were crowded around the stage, the setting sun illuminating the area nicely. The stage had been slightly altered: a large wooden cage had been built around most of the stage so the Slayers would not be able to escape, while a huge throne-like seat was standing off to the side for the Ruler. A couple of guards surrounded the stage from all side, two standing next to the seat to protect the Ruler, and another few mingling with the crowd to get rid of any dissenters. Anticipation was rising quickly, people were anxiously waiting for the Slayers to arrive while little ones complained about not being able to see anything.

Casca turned to look at the new guy, Flavius or something, and nodded at him. They'd been put with the team that was too get the attention of all the guards in the middle of the fight. Jabe would lead his team through the back and get rid off any demon guards possibly still there and free the Slayers, while Willow, Tara and two other witches were casting spells from inside the woods. The only problem was that they were relying on the two Slayers to be able to run, and although Casca knew about their special healing powers, Willow had explained that at least one of them was quite weak. He didn't want to risk them having to go through too much of the fight and face possible injury, but they had to wait until the spells were done to start the distraction. If it came down to it, one Slayer was better than none.

A soft wind had picked up and the breeze was cooling down the hot, sticky air from the afternoon. People were groaning in relief that it wouldn't be too hot for the fight and tried to move up front for a good spot and some fresh air. Suddenly a loud fanfare rang through the marketplace and everyone turned to see the Ruler arrive. Heads were bowed and Casca hated doing the same but there was no other choice; they didn't want to be found out just yet. Callas ascended the stairs and stood in front of his throne, grinning like a fool. Raising his hands he ordered the citizens to stand straight and the crowd gathered watched as four guards walked up to the stage with two slaves in their middle. Everyone was pushing and shoving to get a good look, but the guards were blocking any access and view to the two Slayers.

Finally the guards pulled the two girls up onto the stage and chained them to an opposite corner of the cage, before stepping out of it and locking the door tightly. Two guards walked around the cage to each of the Slayers and unlocked the chains so the two girls were free to move inside the wooden construction. Casca narrowed his eyes and looked at them; he wanted to make sure they really were the Slayers and not just some other slaves meant to con everyone. But the girls standing frightened in their corners looked like the brunette and blonde from Willow's photo, except the skinniness of their bodies and a whole lot of bumps and bruises covering their skin.

He looked at Flavius to indicate that they really were the Slayers and the new guy informed the other members of their distraction team. Callas smiled at the crowd and raised his arms again, ready to address the public. Casca really hoped there wouldn't be another boring speech from the Ruler, but apparently he was spared.

"Dear citizens, I am delighted to present to you…the ones you have been told to fear all your measly lives, the chosen ones that were created to kill and destroy YOU! See the Slayers, see them fight each other and see them destroy each other. I hope this will provide you with rich entertainment for the evening," Callas exclaimed and cheers ran through the crowd; the Ruler knew how to please his people after all.

"Weapons!" the Ruler yelled and two guards brought a large table onto the stage covered by a sheet. They removed the sheet and revealed all sorts of weapons used for all kinds of fighting: swords, daggers, maces and other kinds of medieval weaponry. Callas grinned again and looked over the table as if trying to choose just the right weapon for the Slayers to use, but he finally settled on their own, "Fists. Let the fight begin!"

The two guards pushed the slayers forward in the cage but the two girls only stood there, much to the dismay of the public.

----------

Buffy swallowed hard and braced herself as the guard pushed her into the middle of the cage. She looked at Faith who was standing less than two feet from her, arms hanging at her side. It was one thing for Callas to torture them when they couldn't do anything about it, but there was no way they would fight each other. Too many bad memories were connected to it and Buffy wasn't even sure that she could bring herself to hit the younger girl. She forced the tears back and turned to face Callas and the dozens of people standing around the stage.

"I'm not fighting her!" she yelled, feeling anger burn at the back of her mind and pushing its way forward.

The crowd threw shouts of disapproval at her, but Callas only laughed. The Ruler motioned with his hand and the guard closest to Faith pulled a gun from his holster. He trained it on Faith and unlocked the safety. She didn't want this to happen, she couldn't believe that she hadn't exploded yet from rage. Buffy felt the tears burn their way down her face as Callas walked closer to them.

"Then he will shoot her. You know she has a better chance to survive a fight than a gunshot wound to the head."

Buffy lowered her head and wiped her hand across her eyes in an angry movement. This just wasn't fair, this wasn't right. All she wanted was to be back in Sunnydale when all she had to worry about where some apocalypses a couple of times a year and small-time vamps; when life had still been good. She shook her head and knew that she didn't have a choice but to do this.

"B…just let him do it, please," Faith whispered and the blonde's head snapped up in amazement. What the hell was Faith thinking, just giving up like that? It fueled Buffy's anger and she thought she might have even growled. Callas was not going to win, and she was going to make sure of that. They were not going to die, no matter what it took.

The blonde slayer stepped forward and in the same motion propelled her fist towards the other girl's face. Faith easily blocked the punch, not that it would've hurt her much, but the look in her eyes showed that the gesture had hurt enough. Sighing, Buffy hoped that the brunette would understand why she had to do this and looked into the brown eyes pleadingly.

Faith closed her eyes and nodded slowly, then reciprocated with a jab to the blonde's stomach. Buffy evaded the punch and used the brunette's momentum to flip her onto her back. Stepping back she failed to notice Faith's legs that wrapped around hers and send her crashing to the floor as well. The brunette was straddling her in a second and sent her fist flying towards Buffy's face. The older slayer blocked and flipped Faith onto her back again, then jumped up and waited for the other girl to follow suit.

This was nowhere near a fight, not even close to the way they used to spare and they both knew they'd have to pick up the pace eventually. Faith came at her with punch and Buffy evaded, reconciling with a roundhouse kick to the younger girl's head. The brunette caught Buffy's leg and flipped the blonde in the air but missed the other foot that crashed full force against her ribcage. Landing on her hands the blonde propelled herself up and followed the kick with a right hook to the jaw. Buffy couldn't help but wince as her fist made contact with her friend's face, sending the brunette crashing against the cage.

But Faith got up and ran at the blonde, dodging another hit and getting a punch in at Buffy's stomach. Sucking in air the older girl blocked the next jab, countering with her own that was blocked as well. They exchanged blows and kicks, none of them making any contact except for with hands and arms that were used to block. Neither one was gaining the upper hand, it was more like sparring they way they used to.

"Stop!" Callas finally yelled and the two girls dropped their arms to their side, breathing hard. It'd been a while since they'd any workout, their bodies just weren't used to this anymore.

"Staffs!" the Ruler yelled and a guard threw a wooden staff to each of the two Slayers, before Callas announced the fight to continue again.

Buffy looked at the staff dumbfounded. How long had it been since she'd fought with a staff, she couldn't even really remember if Giles had ever tried to train her with one. Shrugging she gripped it tightly and swung it at the other girl's head, dangerously close to her face. Recuperating, the brunette stepped back and let her own staff sail down at Buffy's head, who barely had time to lift her staff and block the blow. Pushing hard she drove Faith back with a couple of blows that the brunette was able to block, but Buffy eventually got in a good hit at her legs. Sweeping the younger girl's legs out from under her, Buffy kicked the staff away and tightened her hold on hers.

Jumping to her feet the brunette glared at her, but still advanced with a punch that was blocked with the staff. The staff cracked under the punch and Buffy was left with two broken pieces in each one of her hands. She let her guard down momentarily and was greeted with a roundhouse kick that hit her square in the shoulder. Stunned from the blow she was too slow to block the two hands that grabbed her and threw her into the cage.

And now she understood the hurt look she'd seen in Faith's eyes earlier, the pain from the only person you still have in the world going against you. But Buffy knew there was no other way out, maybe she could allow Faith to beat her and make sure the other girl wasn't hurt any more than she already was. Turning her head she looked at the cheering crowd, all those bastards were enjoying themselves way too much. She got up slowly and sighed in despair as Callas ordered the guards to bring them swords.

This was just getting worse.

----------

Casca watched bitterly as the two Slayers attacked each other and fought, although he could see they were holding back. Nevertheless both of them had suffered from blows and he could tell they were tiring. They weren't supposed to tire out that quickly, but Casca knew that without any kind of training for a while even a Slayer was weak. Maybe not as weak as a normal human but all the two had was raw strength, barely any technique was left over.

Callas had just ordered them to use swords and the two girls stood facing each other, both gripping their swords so tightly you could see their knuckles turning white. He looked up into the woods, hoping that the witches were hurrying. Neither of the Slayers had been hurt too badly to be able to run once freed, but he was fearing the worst.

The Freedom Fighter watched as the brunette made a clumsy attempt to swipe at the blonde with her sword, which the other girl dodged easily. Soon enough the sound of metal hitting metal rang through the air and the Slayers were engaged in a fast-paced sword fight. They brought up their swords, swiping at the other, only to have their blow blocked and be pushed back, then be attacked by the other's sword and blocking it themselves. The blonde was lifting her sword to push against the other's blow and turned around, her momentum carrying her forward to take a hit at the brunette's uncovered torso. It had been an easy blow to block but the brunette slayer hesitated, and Casca could do nothing but curse.

He didn't even wait for the blonde's sword to sink into the other girl's side before he alerted his team that it was time. Whether the spells were ready or not.

----------

She would never forget the look in Faith's eyes, the hurtful look she threw at the blonde as Buffy's sword slid easily through her side. Buffy had enough control over her weapon to slow it down as soon as it hit skin but the damage had been done. Faith stared at her in disbelief, then pushed her away as Buffy tried to help her.

"No, not again…please," the blonde breathed and watched drops of blood hit the stage, right before Faith followed suit and dropped to her knees, one hand loosely covering the wound. Buffy moved forward to help her friend, but heard shouts coming from her back, where the crowd had been standing. She turned her head and watched in disbelief as most of the guards rushed to the middle of the crowd, swords and guns drawn. Not being able to see what was going on she turned back to Faith, hoping that no one was going to shoot her in the back.

The shouts were increasing, guards were yelling at people to get down on the ground, drop their weapons, but it was all a blur to her. Faith was hurt, she didn't know how bad and there was only a slim chance that Callas would allow them to stop fighting. Suddenly a shot was fired and her head whipped around, trying to figure out what was going on. Two guards were protecting Callas, who was walking off the stage already. Buffy sighed in relief, maybe there wouldn't be any more fighting going on.

She winced as a body slammed against the side of the cage that faced the woods and gasped as she realized it had been a guard's bloody body. More guards came to the cage and tried to fend off a group of young men that were cutting through the demons ruthlessly. One of the men reached the stage and grabbed the guard's body, banging it repeatedly against the wooden bars until they splintered and he broke through. Glancing behind her again Buffy realized that most guards were still busy with the dissenters in the crowd and hadn't even noticed what was going on meanwhile.

"Come on Slayer, let's go!" the blonde man yelled and grabbed her arm, yanking her away from Faith and towards the hole in the cage.

"No, you can't leave her here!" Buffy yelled, but was pulled off the stage nevertheless, barely missing a sword that came sailing at her head.

"She's hurt, she can't run," the man explained to her while getting ridding of the guard that had almost ended her life and turned to look at his companions. There were a couple of other men with swords and weapons around to fight off the guards.

"I'm not leaving without her!" she screamed at him, and yanked her arm away from his grasp. He was leading her into the woods, and even if this were her way to go back to her old life she would never leave her friend behind.

The blonde guy grunted and grabbed the arm of another fighter, "Lukas, see if you can get the brunette Slayer, she's hurt. Get someone to help you, carry her if you have to. Just hurry up, we need to fall back."

Turning back to her, he grabbed her arm again and dragged Buffy into the woods, "They'll get her and bring her to our headquarters. Just come along, we don't have enough time to stand and chat."

Buffy hesitated, she didn't trust them. But the guards had seemed pretty much defeated, save for the ones putting down the dissenters that hadn't noticed yet and she figured two of the strong fighters could help Faith. Despite what her heart was telling her she broke into a run and followed the blonde man into the woods.

----------

The redhead was pushing through the masses of people standing around like idiots blocking her way. She'd gotten news from one of the last fighters to return from the attack that the Slayers had been freed successfully and wanted nothing more to see if it was true. To see her best friend again.

The big communal cave where everyone slept was busy with people celebrating their victory and fighters boosting about their actions. Willow couldn't have cared less. She continued to fight through the bodies towards the middle and finally broke through. Her heart seemed to stop for a few seconds and she stepped forward and eyed the blonde sitting with her back to Willow. The body of the girl was skinny, pretty much nothing but skin and bones and there was blood on her clothes.

"B…Buffy?" she asked softly and watched as the girl turned around slowly.

And for the first time in two years the witch looked into the eyes of her best friend. A small sob escaped her lips as she wrapped her arms around the blonde's body and held her tightly.

"Willow…oh my god," Buffy whispered and let her own tears run down her face. And for the first time in two years they were tears of joy.

The redhead pulled back, still not taking her hands off Buffy's shoulders and smiled at her friend, "I can't believe it. I thought I was never going to see you again. I missed you so much, Buffy."

Buffy could do nothing but laugh, a laughter that sounded like sobs all the same, and their arms found their way around each other once again. They stayed like that for several minutes, basking in the presence of each other, until Willow finally pulled away.

The witch looked around, but besides the familiar faces of the Freedom Fighter members she didn't see anyone, "Where's Faith?"

A clouded look crossed the blonde's eyes and she shrugged, mumbling something about a blonde guy telling her someone else was getting her. Willow narrowed her eyes, then called Jabe over who was helping bandage up a fighter's injured arm. Pulling him closer to the two girls, she noticed how tired he seemed.

"Jabe…where's the other slayer?" She'd learned that the names of the two girls just didn't stick with anyone and they always used Slayer to refer to her friends. As much as it bothered her, if she wanted quick information about the slayers she had to refer to them as such.

"Lukas, he was supposed to get her," the blonde guy shrugged and looked around to find the new fighter. He came back a couple of seconds later with the dark-haired man they'd freed just nights earlier. Willow looked at him, seeing blood covering a large part of his clothes and wondered if it even was his.

"Lukas, where's the other slayer?" Jabe asked the man the same question he'd been asked minutes earlier and the man looked away nervously.

"What," Buffy asked, her voice becoming very soft and tiny, "please don't tell me that she's not here."

Lukas cleared his throat, running a dirty hand through his hair and looked from Willow to the Slayer, "I was fighting this guard and uh…when I finally defeated him I went to the Slayer. She was injured badly, she couldn't walk and was near unconsciousness. So I picked her up and tried to leave but three or four guards came at me and I couldn't fight them off without my hands free. I put her on the ground and fought, but by the time I had killed the demons she was…gone. A guard must have…taken her back. I'm really sorry."

For a split-second Willow thought the blonde slayer was going to jump at the man and rip out his throat, but as soon as the dangerous look in her eyes had appeared, it vanished. Instead a blankness entered Buffy's stare as she sunk to the floor.

"No…oh god no," was all Willow could hear her friend whisper and was next to her immediately, trying to comfort the girl.

But Willow knew as well as Buffy that the chance of them getting Faith out of the castle now was slim.

----------

"You goddamn idiots! What did I do to deserve this!" Callas raged and a chair went crashing into a nearby wall.

"Majesty, we had not been expecting the fight in the crowd, there were armed citizens trying to create chaos," a guard tried to defend their action.

Callas walked up to him, his face close to the guards as he replied, "That was a fucking distraction, you brainless maggot. They got a Slayer, and if it hadn't been for Lukas they'd have both. If he hadn't reacted quickly and 'freed' the Slayer to hand her over to the guards some other fighter might have taken her. Where would we be then, huh?"

The guard shuddered and stepped back, but the Ruler's fist smashing into the side of his face broke any bones he had in his head and he collapsed to the floor.

"I want my Slayer back! I don't care what it takes; if I have to torture the other one in public. Get me my magistrates!"

The guards scattered and practically ran. Callas was in a worse mood than anyone had ever seen him, and no one wanted a fate similar to the other guard's. All hell had just broken lose.

----------

She sat nervously on the chair, her eyes never leaving the light, wooden door that led to the bedroom. The feeling deep in the pit of her stomach was telling her to go and throw up until there was nothing left in her stomach and then cry until she ran out of tears. She'd lost Faith…literally and metaphorically.

Buffy rested her forehead in her hands, the tears still wouldn't stop. She couldn't believe what had happened; couldn't believe that she'd left Faith to fend for herself. If injuring her hadn't been bad enough, this definitely was. As long as the brunette was okay Buffy would feel a little better, even if she was never forgiven for what she had done. She never should've gone with that Jabe guy, should've gotten Faith herself.

Sighing, she wondered how she was even able to sleep at a time like this. Although this was her chance to see Faith, sleep just hadn't really been an option. Buffy was sure Willow and her spell casting abilities had something to do with it, if not all. But she'd been here for almost half an hour now, and time in the dream-world went by faster anyway.

Maybe it was time to give up, to accept that either her friend was dead or wasn't going to be here. Buffy looked up as she heard the door open and walked a few steps closer. The door opened and the blonde held her breath, waiting until it was fully opened and the brunette girl stepped through.

Faith looked up at her, tears in her own eyes and was in Buffy's arms within a second. The blonde tightened her hold on the younger girl and let a sob escape her lips. They cried in each other's arms until one of them finally found the strength to speak again.

"Faith…baby, I'm so sorry," Buffy whispered, but her voice broke even then.

The brunette's body shook with sobs as well and she pulled away slightly, looking up Buffy with the saddest eyes the blonde had ever seen.

"Buffy…can you do something for me?" Faith's voice was sturdy but quiet, and Buffy could do nothing but nod softly.

"Can…can you find the…new Slayer and…," the younger girl started, but was cut off by Buffy who grabbed her arms tightly.

"Faith! You're not going to die!" Buffy almost yelled and felt tears sting her eyes once more as Faith looked away and she realized what the girl was talking about.

"You can't do that, you can't kill yourself!" she added and was near panicking. She couldn't lose the other girl, it'd kill her as well.

"Buffy, it'd be better that way. You can find her and you can kill Callas together," Faith offered, her eyes holding something resembling hope. But Buffy wasn't going to let this happen, not as long as she was alive and she planned on living for a while.

"No Faith," she shook her head vehemently, "I will not let you die. I will get you out of there and we will be free together."

The brunette seemed to think about objecting, but then stopped and looked to the floor. After a few seconds she looked at the blonde with a blank look in her eyes, "You will rescue me?"

The girl's voice was so small even Buffy had a hard time hearing it, but she did and nodded, "Yeah. I promise."

Looking at Buffy pleadingly Faith loosened her hold on the blonde, "You promised you wouldn't lie to me, Buffy."

Closing her eyes the blonde nodded and pulled the girl closer to her, remembering the moment they had shared back then.

"I'm not."

Faith smiled at her before wrapping her arms around Buffy once again and they stood in the middle of the apartment in each other's embrace. The blonde sighed and hoped to god that she would be able to keep her promise. Both of them.

End Part 5


	6. Memento Mori

I know this hasn't been updated in years, but I thought it was high-time I finished it. Perhaps there are one or two people out there still reading this.

Disclaimers: I don't own anyone you recognize from the show. Everyone else is mine.

Summary: Buffy tries to free Faith, but not if Callas has anything to say about it.

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**Gethsemane VI – Memento Mori**

"Buffy, that's insane. You can't do that!" Willow tried reasoning with her friend, but her voice had risen to higher levels by now. She just couldn't believe the blonde would do something so stupid, or even think about doing it.

The slayer stopped and turned to look at her friend, "Will, I have to do this. I promised her I'd get her out of there, I can't just break that promise."

Seemingly considering, the redhead looked into the eyes of her best friend. She wasn't surprised at what she saw there, but it still didn't ease the fear that held her heart in a chokehold. She'd just gotten Buffy back, she didn't want to lose her again. But Willow knew that there was no possibility of her talking the blonde out of this.

She sighed and brought a hand to her forehead, "Do you love her, Buffy?"

The blonde gave her a confused look, her arms dropping to her side almost as if she had been defeated and shook her head, "Will…I…I"

Smiling, the redhead took a step forward and placed her hand on Buffy's arm, "It's okay Buffy, I know. And I know you have to go to her. But please let me help, I couldn't deal with losing you again."

Buffy smiled back, seeming relieved and nodded. She was going to need all the help she could get if she wanted to free Faith from the castle.

………………………

He walked around the table slowly, his finger running along the dark wood as if he was mesmerized by the furniture. Lifting his head to meet the Ruler's eyes he smirked, knowing full well that there was no threat. Callas needed him, and no matter how much time he took, the vampire wouldn't do anything rash.

"So," he started, having no intentions on relaying any information just yet, "I heard the brunette slayer is back in the dungeons. Are you sure that's a wise idea?"

Callas brought his hands behind his head and leaned back as far as possible, appearing unconcerned. "Why don't you let me decide what's wise and what's not, Lukas?"

He nodded, "Fair enough."

The Ruler stood up and walked around the table to pick up the newspaper a guard had brought earlier, with news from yesterday's rescue mission. He scoffed quietly and turned to face the man in front of him with a stern look.

"The blonde slayer knows the castle and location of the brunette; I have no doubt she is going to try something. I decided it would be safer to place the remaining slayer back into the dungeons, a different wing and cell. She's chained down, so no worry of her trying to kill herself either," Callas explained and walked over to the spy, "I want my slayer back, Lukas."

The man took his hand from the table, not acknowledging he had heard Callas at all, and turned to the Ruler with his hands in his pockets. All this was information he had already figured before coming here.

"The blonde slayer is a wreck, a ticking time-bomb so to speak. I told them that when I was trying to rescue the brunette some guards attacked me and while I was fighting they took the girl from my care. She seemed to believe me, but I am sure that if she knew I was half demon I would be dead by now."

He grinned and watched as Callas nodded, apparently deep in thought. Lukas wasn't stupid enough to reveal all he knew at once; the vampire couldn't get rid of him just yet. And by the time Callas planned to do so, he'd be long gone, with his payment, of course.

"The Slayer is planning another rescue mission. She's got some powerful witches on her side, a couple of good fighters. They are probably going to try to storm the castle, but this time stealth is the keyword," Lukas said calmly and the dark-haired vampire walked back over to his seat, standing in front of it.

"I must say I had pegged the Slayer to be more intelligent. Doesn't she anticipate us intercepting and killing them all?" Callas seemed intrigued that someone could be this dumb and sat on the armrest of his chair, arms folded.

"Well as I said, she has powerful witches on her side. They are also responsible for your Army's inability to find their headquarters. There is a strong magical shield surrounding the cave; I have yet to find a spell to reverse the effect, but I am very close."

Callas nodded, scratching his deep in thought, then stood up and looked at the spy, "Very well. I will ready the Army for the imminent attack. I want either you or Flavius going along on their mission, if anything should go wrong I need you to make sure those Slayers don't leave. If you have to reveal your identity to stop them, so be it. And get that reverse spell to my Head Magic Magistrate as quickly as possible."

Lukas nodded and left through the double doors held open by a guard. He hoped the Slayer would plan her attack soon; he wasn't exactly fond of working with the Ruler. Sighing, he made his way back to the Freedom Fighters' cave.

………………..

Faith tried to open her eyes slowly, she didn't know if they were swollen shut from all the tears or the torture Callas had inflicted upon her shortly after the fight at the marketplace. She groaned, her muscles protesting at every movement she made. Pulling her wrists the brunette realized she'd been chained to the wall with her arms above her head.

"Buffy?" she whispered, finally getting her eyes to open and looked around.

Faith panicked for a split second, before she remembered that Buffy had escaped and she was all alone. Groaning again, the girl moved against the wall to release the uncomfortable pressure on her arms. Closing her eyes, the girl leaned her head against her arms and took a deep breath. Not that she really remembered, but the pain seemed worse than it ever had before. She wasn't sure whether it was because Callas had had a couple of guards beat on her for over half an hour, or whether she was hurting more cause Buffy wasn't there. The blonde had always been there to comfort her after she'd been hurt, every single time for two years and now she was gone.

Trying to force the thoughts about Buffy out of her head, the younger slayer reminded herself that the blonde had promised to free her. But no matter how much she wanted to believe the older girl, she really didn't want to get her hopes up. Life was now officially not worth living.

…………………………….

"How are we gonna get into the castle?" Jabe asked and checked the sword in his hand.

The blonde picked up a dagger, her back to him and without turning she replied, "We don't."

Willow looked at the man and shrugged, she didn't have any idea what her friend was talking about either. Finally Buffy turned around, stowing the weapons in the belt around in her waist and she looked at the two confused people standing in front of her. She was scared, more than she'd ever been in her life, but her voice didn't show it as she explained.

"She's not in the castle anymore. Callas had her brought to the dungeons so I wouldn't know where she was."

"Right…umm and you know this how?" Jabe said with his eyebrows raised; his tone of voice holding that he didn't quite believe in her sanity.

"She told me," Buffy shrugged and walked past her best friend to pick up the jacket they'd provided her with.

"Is it just me or does that sound sort of insane," the young man tried again, but as he looked at Willow he saw her smile.

Bringing a hand to rest on his shoulder the redhead shook her head, "Just trust her on this, it's a long story and we don't have much time."

Groaning, he rubbed a hand across his eyes and shook his head; he just wasn't quite getting all this complicated magic and Slayer stuff. All he knew was how to fight, and he was glad that they'd at least need his help with that. Willow was gathering spell ingredients, while busily talking to Tara about how and when to do the spell. The Slayer was checking her weapons for the fiftieth time, and if he hadn't been so sure that Slayers were never scared he could've sworn she was nervous. Shaking off the thought he walked up to her and smiled, but the only thing the smile was meant to convey was that he was ready to fight.

"Ready, Slayer?"

"Let's go."

-----------------

She pushed the branches aside and looked at the gray building in front of her, with two oak double-doors that were secured by two guards. Darkness had just settled in and there was no one outside except for them and a couple of guards patrolling the area. The doors led downstairs to the dungeons; they were the only outside entrance/exit.

"Will, how's the spells coming along?" she asked quietly and moved behind the bushes again, looking at her best friend.

"Almost finished. It only lasts for about 15 minutes though, so you guys have to hurry," the redhead answered. She didn't want to get this wrong, there was too much at stake. Although this time they'd only taken four other fighters with them, along with Buffy, Willow, Tara and another powerful witch, if they lost they'd lose the best resources the Freedom Fighters had. Not to mention their lives.

Buffy nodded and looked at the four men with her. She already knew Jabe was strong and the vampire that had introduced himself as Casca seemed like one of the better fighters; but she didn't know much about the muscular, tall guy named Todd and the smaller man whose name she believed was Flavius. All she relied on was Jabe's word that the two had proven themselves physically in a couple of fights and she couldn't really argue with that.

"So, what's the spell do?" the blonde turned to watch her best friend sprinkle some blue powder over a bowl and mumble a few words in what she figured was Latin.

"It's like a cloak, you'll be invisible to the guards' eyes. But you have to be careful, they can see you as ripples in the air and if you attack them they'll be able to see you. Just make sure you get in, free Faith and leave. Don't try to engage in fights unless absolutely necessary," Willow warned and ground some weird looking herbs into the blue powder mix, looking intently at each one of them in turn.

"Can we see each other, though?" Flavius questioned and tightened the belt where his sword was located.

Tara nodded, watching her girlfriend complete the spell and took the bowl from her, "You should be able to, at least faintly. You guys just make sure no one gets in Buffy's way, alright?"

They all nodded slowly, the anticipation of the upcoming mission sending waves of adrenaline through their bodies. Willow reached into the bowl and blew the mixture onto all four of them until it was gone and whispered another few Latin words. The four warriors looked at each other, feeling no different, but when they saw their companions only as faint shadows they knew it had worked.

"Good luck you guys," Willow whispered before the five warriors slipped through the bushes and ran towards the doors.

--------------------

The sword slid through the startled guard like butter, and the demon dropped to the ground with a silent groan caught in his throat. As he looked to his side he saw that Todd had already gotten rid off the other guard and Jabe picked up the keys from the corpse on the ground. He was relieved that this time there was no rush of guards to surprise them and they slipped through the doors into the barely illuminated corridor.

The doors clicked shut softly behind them and they waited a few seconds to let their eyes adjust some, at least for the humans and non-slayers under them. There were torches high up on the walls that provided little light, but just enough for them to see where they were going. Steps built into the stone lead down at least five feet, and from where they were standing they could see a length of weakly lit corridor, probably guarded at several points.

"Buffy, do you know where she is?" he whispered as quietly as possible to the shadow at his side. He had to try and remember to call her by her name after she'd snapped at him earlier about not being named 'Slayer'.

The blonde reached out her hand to stop him from advancing and looked around, "I can sense her, if I'm closer I'll definitely be able to tell. Let's just get into the dungeons and then hopefully we'll be close enough."

He nodded, they really didn't have much of a choice and started walking down the steps. They stayed as close to the walls as possible, if guards came and didn't see them they might just run right into the fighters. Knowing that time was limited they hurried and were soon standing in another dark corridor that seemed to stretch endlessly into the darkness. Jabe had been in here once, a slave like all the others, but that had been almost two years ago and the dungeons were not something he had tried to remember. As much as he hated relying on others, the two most recently escaped, Buffy and Flavius, would have to lead the way.

"This tunnel leads into a larger cave-type thingy, with around 4 or 5 guards. The cave branches out into three separate corridors that contain the cells. There are usually guards in the cell-corridors, but they are mostly alone," Buffy whispered to them and he nodded, taking in the information.

Making their way along the dark tunnel they finally spotted a better illuminated, larger cave. They stopped, scouting out the situation and seeing seven guards either standing near one of the branch-corridors or sitting behind a barred cage that could only be opened from the inside. Jabe cursed, there were more than they'd anticipated, and especially the ones inside the cage could cause trouble. But before he had a chance to reassess the situation with his teammates he saw the Slayer's shadow creeping along the wall towards the cage.

The blonde man cursed again and walked along the other end, towards the first guard in his way, knowing that the other three fighters would sneak up on their own guard. If they could all kill the first five guards at the same time, they might be able to defeat the last two before those even had a chance to realize what was going on. He watched the others get into place and saw the Slayer cut the head off of her guard. Jabe reacted quickly, slicing easily through the demon in front of him and watched as another three guards dropped to the ground. Five down, two to go.

The two guards inside the cage jumped up, confusion on their faces and quickly unlocked the door, only to be ambushed from their sides. They hadn't even seen the Slayer and the vampire waiting there for them. Jabe breathed a sigh of relief and joined up with the others at the joining of the three corridors.

"So, where's the Slayer?" he glanced around at the dead guards and spotted one clutching a gun in its hand, which he took.

Buffy threw him a glance that he could see even though she wasn't more than a shadow and he shrugged, "What, I don't know her name after all…Buffy."

Jabe could've sworn he heard her growl, but she shook it off quickly and turned her head to look at all the corridors in turn, "That one. And yes, I'm sure," she added as he opened his mouth to speak.

Nodding, the blonde man checked the gun to make sure it was loaded and followed Casca and Buffy into the third corridor. Todd was walking almost by his side and Flavius had the back in case any more guards were to surprise them from behind. They entered the cell block and although they would've preferred walking off to the side they weren't going to risk that now. There were small cells in both sides of the corridor, the iron bars dusty and starting to rust, the inside of the cells filled with dirt, blood and excrements. Jabe shuddered at the thought of what life he would've faced if he hadn't been able to escape. In most cells there were two slaves, some of them looked deader than the guards he'd just killed. He was actually glad that those pathetic forms of life couldn't see them, all the begging and screaming those slaves would've created definitely would have blown their cover.

He looked into almost every cell, feeling that he was close to getting whiplash from trying to see all cells, although he knew it was pretty much useless. Buffy would notify them if she could sense the other girl nearby. They advanced through the corridor and after a while Jabe gave up looking at the slaves; it was making him sick. He was so sunken in his thoughts that only the sound of skin and muscles tearing snapped him back into reality. Looking up he saw a guard slowly sinking to the floor, a dagger sticking out of his chest.

Cursing his inattentiveness, Jabe walked past the guard and pulled the bloody dagger out of the demon's chest. No need to waste weapons. They had covered almost the whole corridor and there was no sign of the brunette slayer. Jabe was getting worried and even more so as they stopped. Pushing past Casca who had been blocking his view, his eyes fell upon two more corridors branching out from the one they were in. He groaned and turned to Buffy, who was already trying to sense the other girl.

"Where do we go, Buff?"

"She's close by, I can feel it. I think…why don't we try this one?" she whispered back, and Jabe was close to yelling. The slayer didn't sound so sure anymore.

Holding back his anger he followed the blonde into the corridor to the right, but this time he was paying more attention. As soon as they stepped foot into the dark tunnel two guards practically walked into them. Jabe had just enough time to jump out of the way and hope one of the others behind him would take care of the demon. But Buffy hadn't been as lucky and the dumbfounded guard was looking at the empty spot in front of him that he had run into. Letting his fist snap forward the demon struck something solid, like a body and was shocked at his inability to see this possible attacker. But as the invisible person dropped to the floor he could see ripples in the air and smiled, just as he raised his sword to let it sail down on his enemy.

Jabe didn't give the guard a chance to register the knife buried deep in his chest and pushed him to the side harshly, then cutting off the demon's head with his sword. Helping Buffy up they turned around and saw that the others had taken care of the second guard. Releasing the breath he hadn't known he was holding, he realized they'd been way too lucky tonight. But there was no time to contemplate, according to Willow the invisibility spell wasn't going to last much more than ten minutes now.

And apparently Buffy had been thinking the same thing, for she practically ran along the corridor, now looking into every cell on the way. Jabe followed her quick pace, checking each cell she passed just to make sure. Suddenly the blonde stopped, her hands gripping the iron bars tightly and trying to break through them. The fighter stopped next to her and looked into the dark cell. He was having a hard time actually seeing much beyond the form of a body chained to the wall and he hoped that Buffy was sure about this.

"Open the cell, just open it. Hurry," she breathed and Jabe turned to see Casca catch up with them.

The vampire and the Slayer both grabbed the bars and started shaking them, trying to break them from the wall. But even the combined strength of the two didn't do it and he practically had to push Buffy aside to let him try. Willow had given him a weird smelling powder before they had left the Headquarter and told him that it dissolved iron; he'd thought it dangerous at first because of their swords and other weapons, but now he reminded himself to thank the witch later. Grabbing the pouch from his pocket he threw some of the reddish powder against the bars and with a loud sizzling sound they collapsed.

Buffy was inside the cell and next to the girl before the bars even had a chance to completely dissolve, this time trying to pry the iron chains from the wall. Jabe shook his head at her impatience and stepped through the hole in the bars. He crouched down and finally got a good look at the girl's face. She was definitely the girl from Willow's picture, but he still would have doubted it if Buffy wasn't so sure. The bruises and cuts covering her face almost made her look like a demon with purple-blue skin and he shuddered. Callas probably hadn't gone easy on her last night. He sprinkled some of the powder over the shackles around her wrists.

The brunette's hands collapsed down to her sides unharmed and within seconds Buffy was trying to wake the girl. Jabe turned to look out the cell, he was getting worried about more guards coming. He was sure that the other three fighters could fight off any guards that were going to come, but he still stood up and walked out of the cell. Casca and Todd were dispatching a guard, while Flavius looked back and forth nervously. The demon had been no problem and the vampire and Todd came back over to them. Flavius still stood farther off, looking even more worried than Jabe.

The blonde man turned and saw Buffy coming out of the cell, carrying the brunette in her arms. She walked a few steps towards them and looked around nervously as well, "She won't wake up, but she's alive. Callas probably took his anger out on her; we have to get her back to Headquarters fast."

He nodded and followed her as she carried her friend through the corridor, stepping across the bodies of various demons on the ground. Flavius was looking at them, then back into the corridor as if he was actually expecting someone to come; Casca and Todd walked ahead to catch any guards before they could get to Buffy. Jabe followed a few steps behind the Slayer, not knowing whether there was an entrance to the dungeons behind them that the guards could use. He was just about to make a comment about how smooth this all had gone, when a voice rang through the air and made him look up. Flavius was blocking their path.

"In the name of the great and magnificent Ruler…I order you to stop!"

Jabe stopped, a few steps behind the blonde girl and looked at Flavius angrily, "You're a fucking spy!"

The man laughed and trained a gun on the two slayers. Jabe couldn't believe they had let a spy into their group, had taken him on this mission and enabled him to see them despite their invisibility. He was fumbling for his own gun in his waistband but it was too late; the shot rang through the hallway, echoing off the walls. Jabe watched the blonde Slayer drop to the ground, blood pooling beneath her body. He looked at the spy who had his gun trained on him now. Flavius knew that no matter how fast the blonde man was, with a sword he had no chance against him. Jabe silently thanked a higher power for the spy not having seen the gun he'd picked up earlier.

He grabbed the gun and pulled the trigger before Flavius could realize what was happening. The second shot seemed a lot louder. The spy dropped to the ground and Jabe hurried over to the fallen body of the blonde. The bullet had pierced through her chest, maybe even her heart and he closed his eyes. Todd and Casca came running back over and cursed as well as they saw the two slayers on the floor.

"Shit Jabe…shit! What are we gonna do?" Todd asked, looking around frantically to make sure no guards were coming after them.

"We've got to carry them. Maybe we can still help. Casca, can you fight the guards by yourself?" he stated calmly and looked at his long-time friend.

"Yeah, we just got rid off a few more that probably heard the shots. We gotta hurry, spell's almost worn off and the brunette isn't invisible."

Jabe nodded and lifted the brunette girl into his arms as Todd did the same with the blonde. All they had to do now was get out, but that was definitely easier said than done. So they ran, as best as they could with the girls in their arms, Casca leading the way.

He was more appreciative than ever for his friend's keen sense of direction and the vampire had them back in the bigger cave within a minute. That was when three guards saw the body of a slave practically floating in midair and came charging at Jabe. The edge of the sword sliced through his jacket easily and he could feel the blood trickle down his arm. This was getting worse and worse.

Crouching down, he lowered the girl onto the ground and rolled away from her body as the guard started stabbing the air. Knowing he only had one shot at this Jabe threw the only knife he still had and it jammed right in between the guard's eyes. Heaving a sigh of relief, the blonde fighter crawled back over to the brunette, looked around to see Casca finish the last guard and picked up the girl once again.

Now all they had to do was run.

……………………..

She opened her eyes slowly and expected to feel her hands chained to the wall, but instead she could move freely. Wondering what Callas was up to she sat up straight, only to be greeted with a very unfamiliar scene. She was lying on a couple of blankets in what looked like a small cave, candles surrounding her as well as a circle of blue powder. Wondering what was going on the girl brought a hand to her head and groaned. She felt dizzy, but besides that the pain in her body wasn't nearly as bad as it had been just yesterday.

Faith pushed herself up and stood for a few seconds with her hand resting against the cool wall to steady herself. She slowly and cautiously exited the small cave, only to walk into something resembling an underground tunnel carved into the stone. Hearing voices she continued her way down the tunnel, where she found a large, tall cave with dozens of people mingling around. In the middle there was a large fire, and next to it an empty circle. Most of the cave was covered with blankets and what seemed like personal items, some of the spots had people on them and others were left empty at the moment. Off to the sides of the cave were benches carved into the stone, as well as small tables that held various magical supplies. Multiple corridors seemed to lead away from the cave, but it was impossible to tell their direction.

The brunette slayer entered the cave, unsure of where she was exactly and looked at the people around her. Some threw her curious looks, a couple of little kids even had the nerve to point at her. She wanted nothing more than to lie down, with Buffy next to her. She snapped her head up, remembering the blonde and panic crept up into her body. If this was what she thought it was, the Freedom Fighters' Headquarter, then Buffy had to be around, unless…Faith shook her head, she wasn't going to think about that.

Wandering around between the people she got more worried by the second. Suddenly a hand came to rest on her shoulder and the brunette spun, ready to strike at anything that dared to touch her. But as she looked at the face in front of her she had to hold back the tears.

"Willow…," she breathed and was immediately enveloped in the witch's arms.

"Faith, I didn't think you'd be awake already. We did some healing spells, to help you get better. How are you feeling?" the redhead asked and looked at the brunette girl. What she saw was a body far from well, but definitely a lot closer to it than she had been last night when Jabe had carried her to one of the small caves they used specifically for healing.

"Fine, better than I've been in a while. Will…," the brunette started and looked around again, then back at the redhead, "Will, where's Buffy?

Willow looked away, anywhere but those two brown eyes that held so much pain in them. Pain she didn't want to add to.

"Willow?" the girl's voice was small now, cracking and the tears pooling in her eyes.

Sighing, the redheaded witch bit her lip and looked up into Faith's eyes, "She…Buffy was shot last night while trying to rescue you."

The brunette's arms dropped to her side and a blank look crossed her eyes, before her chin started quivering. Willow stepped forward but Faith took a step backwards, looking at the wall and sucking in her breath before looking at the redhead again.

"Is she…is…Buffy…dead?" Faith forced the words out, the lump in her throat threatening to choke her and she blinked the tears away.

"Faith…I…," Willow started, feeling her own tears spring to her eyes as the brunette girl sunk to the floor.

Faith stared at her blankly, then slowly dropped to her knees as if all energy had been sapped from her. She pressed her palms against her traitorous eyes, that were now leaking tears in rivulets down her cheeks. A sob shook her body, no matter how hard she tried to hold it in.

"Buffy…Buffy you can't leave me…please…"

The redhead swallowed and dropped to her knees as well, wrapping her arms around the younger girl, knowing that nothing she could ever say would take away the pain.

--------------------------------

"Both slayers…gone, huh? Do I have to cut someone's head off to let you know how pissed I am or can your pea-size brain handle that on its own?" Callas glared at the two guards before him and cut them off before they could give him any lame excuses.

He looked up as the door opened and Lukas stepped inside the room, his stride showing that he was hurrying, not like him at all. The half-breed stopped in front of the Ruler and nodded at him.

"Flavius failed, I hope you have better news for me. I'd hate to have to waste the time to kill you," Callas declared calmly, knowing he wouldn't even get as much as an angry glare from the spy.

"I have the reversal spell. Give me a day to gather the ingredients and get everything ready. I promise you won't be disappointed this time," Lukas spoke in a serious tone and Callas nodded.

He wasn't in the mood to play games today. All he wanted was revenge on the terrorists. And he was going to get it.

_End Part 6...to be continued_


	7. Do Not Love the World

I'm glad there are still some people interested in this. Thanks for all your reviews, I am really trying not to leave you all hanging and get this thing finished. Only one more chapter to go!

* * *

Title: Gethsemane VII – Do not love the world

Author: Snoe

Rating: R

Feedback: I'd love to know what you think

Disclaimers: I don't own anything or anyone you recognize from the show

Summary: Nothing is ever as it seems, but of course, just when everyone thought there was a happy ending, more terror insures. And this time Callas is way beyond pissed.

The redhead looked down at the sleeping girl at her feet. She wasn't even sure if one could call it sleep; Faith was writhing and mumbling and Willow didn't know if she was having a nightmare or remembering what had happened. She sighed and stepped over the dozens of other blankets people had spread on the floor for themselves to claim a sleeping spot. The blanket she'd gotten for Faith was close to the fire; the girl had been so cold Willow had been afraid she might get hypothermia.

Walking to the edge of the cave that had no blankets she looked around. A lot of the blankets had sleeping bodies on them now, only a few people still sat up and talked or were doing other things. There were a few fighters they'd stationed as guards walking around and a couple of witches that were discussing a new spell. Willow wasn't sure if she understood them anymore, the carefree way they acted even in a world like this. In a world were someone like Faith was left all alone, despite all the suffering she had gone through.

Willow sighed and decided that maybe sleep was a good idea; she'd tired herself out from all the spells they'd performed earlier. She walked around the walkway towards where her and Tara's blankets lay and was just about to step across the blankets to the outer side when she heard her girlfriend's worried voice. Spinning around she looked into Tara's eyes as the girl stopped in front of her, panting heavily.

"Will…you have to see this…we need your help. Hurry!"

It didn't even take her a second to realize what was going on and she followed the blonde witch to one of the side rooms as fast as humanly possible. As she reached the smaller cave she panted, looking at the five other witches sitting in a circle around a shrouded body. A few candles were illuminating the cave, but some were set in a pentagram around the body. She looked at each one of the witches in turn, their clasped hands and their continuous chanting and didn't even think twice as she squeezed in between them along with Tara, joining the chant.

* * *

Faith sat on the barstool alone. She was swiveling, her head looking down at the tiled floor. The apartment had never felt this cold and somehow she knew it wasn't because it was raining outside or because the heater wasn't on. She looked up and at the wide-open bedroom door. There was no one there and no one going to be there ever again.

Forcing the tears back she shook her head and jumped off the chair. The apartment was quiet, there was no comforting coffee smell this morning and no warm smiles. She hadn't even known how much she loved waking up here with someone she cared about until it had been ripped from her grasp. Well, she was still waking up…but alone. Without the person she cared about.

In fact, the only person she had ever cared about. Sure, Willow and Tara said they were her friends and she saw them as such…it just wasn't the same. All those Freedom Fighters, they could be the nicest people she'd ever met…and even if you put them all together they couldn't measure up to that one person. No one could ever measure up to Buffy.

* * *

"Majesty, Lukas is still gathering the ingredients needed for the spell. He has asked me to inform you that he will need at least until tonight to start," the guard said and looked at the Ruler with a hint of fear in his eyes.

Callas was getting even more vicious, if that was actually possible. Guards were scared to answer his summons, fearing it might be bad news. But he was lucky: Callas only growled and walked around the large table to pick up a cup with symbols carved into it. The vampire looked at the cup intently, as if he were looking for something specific then gazed at the guard.

"Tell him to hurry it up, we don't have all the time in the world."

The guard nodded, bowed and left before he could be subjected to the Ruler's wrath. Callas brought the cup to his lips and let the warm blood ooze over his tongue and down his throat. He could feel his body responding by demanding more, tingling all throughout from the power of the liquid.

Callas drained the cup and set it back on the table, shaking his head. Slayer blood; he definitely had to get more of it.

* * *

There was a hand on her face, fingers caressing her skin gently, until it came to rest on her arm, shaking her softly. The touch was warm, burning through her cold skin and she felt herself pulled from the darkness that was the dream-world. Groaning she turned her head and tried to open her eyes to see who dared wake her up just when she'd been able to endure a dreamless sleep. Her eyelids felt heavy and she could tell her eyes must be swollen, but not enough for her not to try and open them again.

The girl blinked, her vision slightly blurry but it was adjusting quickly and she tried to remember where the hell she was. She could feel, hear and slightly see a whole bunch of people sleeping or talking nearby. Trying to look around she thought back to how she'd woken up and turned her head to her right where the owner of the hand would've been.

Faith's eyes widened as she looked at the person kneeling next to her and tried to move away. She squirmed but the hand was still holding onto her arm and the brunette didn't have a choice but to stay still. She was dreaming again, she knew it. And she wasn't sure if this would be a nightmare or a pleasant dream. She locked eyes with the hazel ones and raised her hand to touch the other person.

"B…Buffy?" she actually managed to choke out, her fingers tracing shaky patterns across tear-stained cheeks.

"Hey baby," the blonde girl answered softly and smiled, the fire dancing in the tears in her eyes.

Faith sat up immediately, her hand never leaving Buffy's cheek to make sure she didn't vanish in the meantime. They both looked at each other, tears filling their eyes and neither of them spoke. She didn't want to believe this was real; if it were nothing but a dream it'd hurt so much more to wake up and realize Buffy was really dead.

"This isn't a dream, Faith," Buffy smiled, as if she'd read the brunette's thoughts and the younger girl looked at her skeptically.

"They said you were dead," Faith whispered, closing her eyes at the memory of the pain.

"Uh, actually," someone else answered and both girls looked up at the redheaded witch who stood behind Buffy next to Tara, "when they brought her in she wasn't breathing, but we revived her. We tried all the healing spells we knew, for hours and I didn't think they'd worked. When you woke up it didn't look good, no one was expecting her to recover."

Faith looked back at Buffy, taking her hand in hers before she turned her eyes up at Willow, "You lied to me."

A frown fell across the redhead's face and she quickly shook her head, "I never did say she was dead; but heck she was so close to it…no one would have ever survived. I didn't want you to get your hopes about something impossible."

Closing her eyes the brunette looked down and squeezed Buffy's hands tightly, "You came back."

Buffy pulled one hand from the brunette's grasp and lifted Faith's chin up so they could lock eyes, before she smiled softly, "For you. I promised you I'd never leave you alone and I don't break my promises."

The brunette laughed softly and leaned forward to tackle the older slayer in a tight hug. The blonde's body felt real and warm in her arms and the fact that Buffy was hugging her back erased just a little bit more of that doubt in the back of her mind that said she'd lost another person she cared about. Buffy fell back onto the blankets, not being able to support Faith's weight any longer due to her weakened state and looked up at her best friend with a soft smile. Although she didn't speak out loud, Willow could hear what Buffy was saying and responded with a smile of her own.

"You don't need to thank us, you're the one that did this," she stated and grabbed Tara's hand in hers, feeling the tight band of fear across her chest loosen and eventually slip away, "but you need to rest and get back to full strength. There's an empty spot on the other side; I think this blanket is too small for two people."

The two slayers looked at each other apprehensively, as if unwilling to let the other go, but neither said a thing. Instead, Buffy squeezed the brunette's hand and let herself be pulled up by her best friend. Willow led the blonde to the other side of the fire, noticing in frustration how the two slayers never broke eye contact the entire time. Why couldn't those two see what was so obvious to everyone else?

After she'd brought Buffy to her blanket Willow sat down next to her girlfriend and kissed Tara gently for a few seconds before breaking away. "You think it'll work?" the blonde girl asked quietly as she laid down and opened her arms for her lover.

"Hmm…I sure hope so."

* * *

Faith stared at the ceiling of the cave, the dark grooves and edges of the stone. No matter how tired she might've been, sleep wouldn't come and was in fact nowhere on her mind. She had Buffy back, she wasn't alone anymore. But the insecurities had already come to the surface and taken a hold of her. What if Buffy didn't want to be around her, now that she didn't have to be? All those months in the dungeons together, neither one had had a choice to be around the other, but in freedom Buffy could get as far from Faith as possible. The blonde didn't need her anymore; she had her best friend back. She screwed her eyes shut tightly to drown out the nagging voice in the back of her head.

Her eyes shot open as she felt someone stand next to her and Faith looked up at the blonde girl standing above her with a crooked smile. Narrowing her eyes she sat up and threw a questioning glance at Buffy, who only shrugged her shoulders. The girl was holding a blanket in her hand, looking like a forlorn little child.

"Uh…I couldn't sleep? Oh and some little five year old kept pestering me about every five seconds, I swear someone must've put him up to it. I was…uh wondering if you'd mind if I slept here?" the blonde asked quietly, a shy smile playing on her lips and Faith couldn't help but laugh.

The brunette held out her hand and pulled the other girl down next to her with a contented sigh. Buffy dropped down next to Faith and threw the blanket she'd been holding at her friend, who could only grunt something in response to the action and push the blanket away.

"So, this is what freedom feels like, huh?" Faith broke the comfortable silence between them after a few minutes of them smiling at each other like buffoons.

Buffy nodded slowly and lay down on the blanket, pulling the brunette into her arms. Faith shifted slightly, reaching for the blonde's blanket to drape it halfway across both their bodies and snuggled deeper into the arms holding her. She didn't want to bring up bad memories, but the little voice had come back, less than before but it was still there.

"Are you…are you gonna leave me now…that we're free?" the brunette asked softly, not believing she'd actually spoken those words and felt Buffy stiffen behind her. Oh, she'd known it.

"Faith…why would you even think that? I know it wasn't really our choice to be around each other for the past years but…if I'd had the choice I would've still been with you. I'm not going to leave you, ever, and you better get that into your thick skull. You won't get rid off me that easily…sorry babe," Buffy responded quietly at first but then her voice eventually led off into a soft smile as she tightened her hold on the younger girl. She felt Faith relax, slightly only, and realized there was definitely more to this.

"People…leave me…I know they don't mean to, but…people I care about all leave me," Faith whispered and the blonde could hear the tears on her voice.

"You mean like your parents?"

The brunette nodded slowly and turned around Buffy's arms to look at her with teary eyes. Pulling the girl closer to her, the blonde ran a hand through dark hair, trying to make Faith feel better, or maybe just trying to calm herself.

"You…do you still wanna know what happened to them?"

Buffy looked at her, her eyes widened slightly, knowing how much the memory always seemed to hurt the younger girl. She had been hoping for the day that Faith would be ready to tell her, but she definitely didn't want to force her into this.

"Faith…I want to know everything about you…but if you're not ready yet, I will wait," she said softly, hoping to convey exactly what she was feeling by looking into those warm, brown eyes.

The brunette nodded, wiping at her eyes and mumbled that she was ready and wanted Buffy to know. Tightening her hold on the younger girl, Buffy nodded as well and let her know to go on.

"I'd just turned 13, my parents had dropped me off at a friend's to spend the night since they were going to some charity thing and Southie isn't the best place for young girls to stay home alone. I didn't know exactly when they'd be back, but my friend dropped me off at my house the next night…

* * *

The young girl unlocked the door to her house and turned to wave good-bye to her friend. She was more than exhausted; staying up almost all-night watching bad movies, eating ice-cream and talking about boys had tired her out more than she'd first thought. Pushing the door open, the brunette stepped inside and dropped her backpack on the floor, quickly locking the door again.

"Mom? Dad? Are you home yet?" she called out, walking into the living room that was as dark as the rest of the house. She shrugged, figuring her parents had decided to stay away another night, knowing she'd be just fine no matter how much her parents worried.

She walked into the kitchen to find anything edible in the fridge and stopped as she heard soft, classical music coming from the speakers in the living room. Walking up to the stereo she realized that someone had turned on the speakers on the patio on, so instead of finding food she figured she'd say hi to her parents first.

The dining room was just as dark, but light from a lamps outside on the patio table threw shadows through the glass doors and into the room. The girl looked through the doors, and could only barely make out the lamps and a bottle of wine sitting on the table, next to two wine glasses. Two chairs were turned towards the table, their backs to the door and she walked through the dining room to open the doors.

The glass doors were dirty and heavy, not allowing her much vision, and she groaned as the handle almost broke off when she tried to pull the door open. Her dad had been promising to fix the door for ages now; it still hadn't happened. The door reluctantly opened, and a heavy metallic scent hit her nostrils. Faith pulled back slightly, grimacing at the sickly smell. She'd never smelled anything like it before and wondered how her parents could even sit outside with it in the air.

She stepped outside onto the patio. The music was louder here, surrounding her with its soft tones and she yawned as she remembered how tired she was. Stepping up to the two quit chairs she remembered countless times her parents had enjoyed reading outside at night with no words spoken between them.

"Mom?" she asked quietly, her voice cutting through the music as she stepped closer.

The girl reached out and put her hand on the back of the chair, walking around it to look at her mother's face. The scream stuck in her throat as she stumbled and fell backwards, her eyes wide with shock. As she moved back she accidentally struck the other chair and it swiveled around to face her. She stared at the two bodies sitting in the chairs, staring at her wide-eyed and horrified. Blood coated her father's chest and his lap, forming a small puddle under his chair that she hadn't noticed until now. A gaping wound covered his neck. His warm brown eyes stared at her sadly. Faith felt the bile rise in her throat.

She turned her head away, but was only greeted with the same sight in her mother's chair. A similar wound on her throat had spilled blood across her body and was even now dripping in a steady beat into a puddle on the ground. Her mother's head was leaned back, eyes staring unseeingly at the ceiling, but at least they were not looking at her like her father's. The woman's hands were covered in blood as well, as if she'd tried to stop her own inevitable death.

Faith tried to suck in a deep breath to calm her roiling stomach and emotions, but the metallic smell burned her nostrils and made her heave. She pushed back from the scene, trying to put as much distance as possible in between herself and this garish nightmare. Her hand touched something wet and sticky and she looked at the ground, noticing for the first time the writing there.

"Revenge is sweet. Now you can't point the finger of blame at anyone ever again!" The letters were scraggly and large, drawn in red paint. It dawned on Faith what the "paint" was and she drew her hand away. Her parents' blood glistened on her fingertips and the girl gave into the nausea at last. Pushing herself onto her knees the girl emptied her stomach, while tears burnt their way down her cheeks. It took her minutes to finally call 911.

* * *

"They…the police caught the guy eventually. He…was my mom's ex. She'd broken up with him long before I'd been born and stood as a witness against him in his drug trial or something. He'd just gotten out and…he wanted revenge. He pled guilty and everything, he didn't even care. He said he'd taken them before they ever reached the event and…and…killed them…he took them to a field somewhere and brought them back home so I'd find them. I…I…," Faith's voice trailed off and her body starting shaking from helpless sobs.

Buffy swallowed the tears, anger and bile that threatened to rise in her throat and pulled the brunette girl closer to her. She couldn't even begin to believe this, couldn't try to understand the pain in the younger girl's heart. This wasn't anywhere near what she'd expected, nothing could've prepared her for this. But she also knew that the other girl didn't want pity, and although Buffy wasn't feeling that way she wanted to make sure the brunette knew so as well.

"Faith…oh my god…I…," she started, not knowing where to go from there at all. She was at a loss for words.

"This makes me even gladder that you're here with me," she finally whispered, looking at the brown eyes for a reaction.

"What…why?"

"Because I know I could've never lived through that. You did and you're here, with me. You're strong, you're a survivor and I know that you'll always pull through. I'm not afraid to say I need you, because you're truly the strength in my life."

Faith looked at her, confused for a few seconds and narrowed her eyes, "What do you mean you need me?"

"I, Buffy, need you, Faith. When you were locked up by yourself I thought I was going to die. It felt like someone had tied a rope around my heart and was pulling with the strength of a vampire. I need you to complete me, Faith. And somehow I think you know exactly what I'm talking about," Buffy said intently, her eyes never leaving Faith's. She could read the fear and confusion on the other girl's face, but she wasn't just going to let go. She'd had enough time to think about this by herself, and then Willow's resolve-face earlier as she made the blonde promise to finally get stuff out in the open.

"Buffy…you…I felt like I was going to shatter into a thousand pieces last night without you. And I've never felt so alone as when I thought you were dead. And I knew that no matter how many friends I could ever make…not a single person could ever come close to what you mean to me. I don't think I could lose you, I've lost too much…and I need you too much," the brunette whispered back, tears springing to her eyes that Buffy wanted to desperately wipe away.

"Faith…I…I love you," the blonde spoke so softly only another slayer could've heard and closed her eyes as her own tears spilled down her cheeks.

"R…really?" the other girl said and the blonde opened her eyes again, then smiled.

"Really, really."

A soft chuckle escaped the brunette's lips, before she looked at Buffy seriously again, "I love you, too Buffy."

Buffy smiled, looking into the brown eyes of the girl she loved, and found herself leaning forward. Her arms were still around Faith, but one of them moved up the girl's back and around her neck. Their eyes locked right before their lips touched.

Pulling the brunette's head closer to her gently Buffy closed her eyes, the feeling of Faith's lips on hers sending waves of electricity cursing through her body. Only seconds later their kiss deepened and each allowed to other complete access to their mind, body and soul.

And if the two slayers hadn't been so caught up in each other they would've seen the high-five and triumphant smile a redheaded witch was sharing with a blonde girl.

* * *

He exhaled deeply and bowed. The candles around him extinguished and he stood, shakily at first, but he quickly steadied himself and stepped out of the chalk-circle on the stone floor. Looking up at the vampire standing off to the side surrounded by guards and magistrates, he smiled.

"The spell's been done, the wall's been broken."

Callas nodded and smiled, walking up to the man standing slightly off the side of the magical circle, "Well done Lukas. You shall receive remuneration as soon as you let me know where the cave is."

Chuckling, the spy nodded, wiping his hands on a towel and looked at the Ruler and anxious guard. Heaving a sigh he walked to the end of the room, running his hands over the metal case on the table that he knew held his money. He turned after a few seconds, leaning against the table and crossed his arms.

"The cave is deep in the woods; pass the outdoor stage and continue on straight. You will eventually reach a small path. Turn right onto that path and follow it, it will lead you to a group of hills. The cave entrance is in the big, middle hill, but this time you should be able to see the entrance clearly. They sometimes station fighters there as guards but you will have no problem defeating them. There's a big cave inside that holds all the members and from the big cave there are corridors leading to all kinds of different, smaller caves. They'll be so surprised they won't have a chance to fight back."

Callas nodded at him and walked out the door, followed by his guard. Before he vanished from the room the vampire motioned for the magistrates to hand over the metal case. Lukas took the case from the magistrate and headed out the door with a smile. Now he just had to make sure to be gone by the time Callas returned to kill him.

* * *

Faith rested her head on the other girl's chest and let her hand grasp the blonde's tightly in hers. Another hand started playing with her hair and she looked up at the girl above her with a smile. Buffy smiled back and pulled her up some to better look into her eyes.

"You know," the brunette started, thinking for a second, "this is definitely one of the best birthdays I've had."

The blonde's eyes widened for a few seconds and she opened her mouth in shock, "Oh my god, it's your birthday and I didn't get you anything!"

Faith chuckled and propped herself up on her elbows, "Yeah, you did."

Buffy narrowed her eyes, looking at the girl confused and finally asked, "I did?"

Laughing softly the younger girl leaned closer to the blonde and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Yeah. I got you, don't I?"

Grinning as well now, Buffy chuckled and pulled the brunette's head down to her, "That you do. Happy Birthday Faith."

She didn't even allow the younger slayer time to respond before she'd pulled her down and they were engaged in a gentle kiss. But they broke apart just as quickly as they heard shouts and panicked screams. Both of them looked at each other in confusion when suddenly shots rang through the cave and the two slayers jumped up. People were screaming and running frantically through the cave, away from the entrance. Then their eyes fell upon the guards marching right into their supposedly hidden cave, followed closely by a grinning Callas.

"Oh shit," both slayers said simultaneously.

* * *

Callas walked into the cave, following his guards that were beheading stupid Freedom Fighters right and left. Some of them tried to fight back, but there had been no time for any of them to get weapons of any sort. They were helpless little flies and it made his step bounce with joy.

They finally entered the large cave Lukas had described and looked around. There were probably more than a hundred people, most of them sleeping on blankets that were situated in a big circle around a central fire. Some of them jumped as they heard the screams and shouts, but his guards were already filling bodies with lead. The shots echoed in the large cave and it sent the fighters scurrying about in a frenzied search for weapons. He looked around carefully; sure all these people back in his dungeons would definitely be nice, but all Callas really cared for were the Slayers.

And then he finally saw them. The brunette and the blonde were already up and running towards the back of the cave, where they met up with another blonde and a redheaded girl. They were looking around and spotted him, and instead of the fear he'd figured to see in their eyes there was nothing but pure hatred and malice. Callas swallowed, knowing it had been way past stupid to lose two vampire slayers, probably the only ones in the whole world strong enough to kill him.

"Get the goddamn slayers!" he yelled and pointed at them.

Immediately a group of guards chased after the girls, who were already vanishing in one of the side-tunnels. Losing sight of his guards as well, Callas cursed and reached out with his hand to grab the arm of a young girl running from his demons. He stared at her teary eyes distastefully and shuddered for a moment at the thought of what he was about to do. Nevertheless, the Ruler lifted the girl up to him and sunk his fangs into her neck. He needed a drink and the times to be picky had just ended.

* * *

"Where are we going Will?" Buffy breathed heavily, turning her head to see the guards still running after them at a swift pace.

"There's an escape route, a small opening to the outside. I hope they won't fit," the redhead answered and kept running without looking at the others.

"What about the others?" the blonde slayer added to her list of questions and this time her best friend turned around.

"The time to care for anyone but ourselves is over. We have to hurry."

Looking at Faith the blonde swallowed and started running faster. There was still a tight, stretchy feeling in her chest that she absolutely didn't like, but besides that she was feeling better than she had in two years. And not to mention Faith seemed back to pretty much full strength; maybe they finally had a chance.

Suddenly a bullet zipped past her head and a small yelp escaped her lips. No time for pummeling annoying guards, she knew that, but that didn't mean her slayer instincts weren't telling her to run in the other direction. Willow finally stopped and pointed at a tiny hole in the wall, receiving skeptical glances from everyone.

"Come on, we don't have time to complain. Just get in…the tunnel leads to a lake outside, we can swim to the shore and hide with some friends of ours."

The two slayers looked at each other then at the hole reluctantly, but as they heard the shouts behind them, followed by another couple of shots that barely missed them, they both crawled into the tunnel behind Willow and Tara. Now they just had to hope that those damn guards didn't fit, and that they'd wasted all their bullets before reaching the tunnel. Not to mention pray that there wouldn't be any nasty underwater critters if they reached the lake intact.

End Chapter 7


	8. Pour Some Sugar On Me

This ending has been a long time coming, I know. I'm sorry for leaving everyone hanging, I just have a huge problem with procrastination But here it is...

**Gethsemane VIII – Pour Some Sugar on Me**

"Holy shit that water is cold!" she mumbled under clenched teeth as she pulled herself up onto the shore of the lake. Sitting on the ground, her legs dangling off the side to barely touch the water she looked up at the mountain across the lake, the almost invisible hole in the top they'd come from. It seemed as if the guards either hadn't fit through the tunnel or just not wanted to risk a 20 foot drop into ice-cold water that might hold some weird mutated fish.

The water was an icy blue, but one couldn't see farther down than 2 feet. The lake stretched on for probably a couple yards to her right, half-wrapped around the mountain. She looked around at the tall trees surrounding them, soft grass under her hands and the sun that had just risen slowly drying her skin. Willow and Tara were sitting off to the side, checking each other repeatedly for any possible injury and she couldn't help but grin.

She brought her hands behind her head, squeezing the water out of her dark hair and stared down at the water. Feeling a hand touch her shoulder gently she turned her head, smiling up at the person standing over her. Buffy sat down next to her, looking up at the mountain as well, then back at Faith.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" she asked, her hands making a movement to check the brunette's body and Faith laughed, swatting the hands away.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You gonna give me a physical like Red and blondie over there?"

Buffy turned her head, seeing her best friend with her girlfriend and grinned as she looked back at Faith. Shrugging she leaned back, studying the body of the brunette next to her. With all that'd happened in the past few hours the blonde hadn't actually had time to wonder about the clothes they were wearing, especially where Willow had gotten them from. She looked at Faith, who was wearing jean cut-offs that barely covered her mid-thigh and a tight, dark-blue tank-top with glittery, red writing in the form of flames. Leaning forward to read the peeling writing Buffy grinned and then started laughing as she looked at the brunette's face.

"What?"

"You're a hottie, huh?" Buffy smiled, pointing at the writing and Faith looked down, grinning herself.

"Hey, Red gave me that shirt, you might wanna have it out with her."

"Well, she is right, no argument here. I just never pegged you for a girly-girl Faith," the blonde teased and received a light swat on the arm, along with a raised eyebrow from the brunette.

"Look at you, Miss goody-two-shoes," Faith objected, pointing out the shirt Buffy was wearing herself, "Devil my ass!"

Buffy narrowed her eyes as she looked at her dark-red tank-top, that had 'Devil' written on it with a broken halo hanging off one of the letters. Shaking her head the blonde shrugged, glad that she at least had gray drawstring pants and not shorts that made her look like a younger Mariah Carey.

"Where'd Will get these things from anyway?" she finally asked, pointing at their clothes. Callas provided the slaves with nothing more than potato-sack shaped rags, although he did make them change into silk clothes before he tortured them. But these clothes were definitely from the Old Era, desperately reminding her of all they'd lost.

Faith shrugged, shaking her head so droplets of water flew through the air and at Buffy, "I think she mentioned something about their group finding an old warehouse. It was stocked with clothes and all kinds of shit, so they took what they could."

Nodding, the blonde leaned her head on a wet shoulder and yawned. She had a feeling that her fatigue came from all the healing her body was still doing, although she actually felt better than she had in years. Those spells the witches had done had worked more than wonders; from what she could tell Faith was definitely back to full strength, all that remained were a few scars, inside and out. Buffy turned around, smiling at Willow and Tara who stood behind them.

"You guys ready to go? Our friend's house is right over the hill," Willow said, grasping her girlfriend's hand and smiled at her best friend as she stood up.

The two witches turned to walk through the trees as Faith stood up as well, the slayers following them up the hill.

"I swear some mutated Nessie bit me," Faith mumbled, receiving only snickers from the witches and a glare from the blonde.

"Faith, stop complaining. And Nessie lives in Loch Ness, not in some backyard lake, hun," Buffy grinned, looking at her best friend who turned around with a smile on her lips as well.

"Yeah, whatever. But if I get an infection and my foot falls off…it'll all be your fault!" the brunette grumbled, following the others with an exaggerated pout on her lips.

"Aww, poor baby. How 'bout I make it up to you later, huh?" Buffy whispered and Faith's eyes widened, before she broke out into a full grin.

"You promise?"

"Oh yeah."

The two witches could only grin at each other to stop from bursting out laughing.

* * *

The table shattered into pieces as his hand slammed down on top of it and the vampire turned to face the demons in front of him with a scowl, "The Slayers, just get me the Slayers. I don't care what you do with the witches, I just want the Slayers!"

The guards all took a step back as Callas planted himself firmly in front of them, his hand coming close to crushing one of the demon's windpipe. Swallowing, one of the guards stepped forward, bowed to the Ruler and spoke as his hands trembled in fear, "Majesty, the guards are afraid. No one wants to face two Slayers."

Growling, the vampire walked up close enough to the guard to feel him shake and looked straight into the demon's eyes, "And they're not afraid of me?"

"Y…yes, majesty…but…but the Slayers…," the guard went to reply but Callas sent him flying backwards with a shove to the chest and walked over to his shattered table.

"Fine, tell all those dimwits that whoever brings me the Slayers shall receive a generous reward. Now go!" the vampire yelled and after bowing as quickly as they possibly could the guards left the room to find the Slayers.

* * *

"Uh, Will?"

The redhead turned around, looking at the two girls behind her and gave them a questioning look.

"You do know that's not just *a* house…that's like a friggen demon suburb!" Faith announced, her voice quiet as not to call any attention to them.

They were standing at the bottom of the hill, hidden behind the large trees and looking at the street in front of them. There were large houses to the right and left of the street, toys scattered in some front lawns and Faith shook her head, "Even the demons get a better life than me. How fair is that?"

Although she'd spoken quietly Buffy had heard and squeezed the girl's hand as she turned to her best friend, "So, which house is it, Willow?"

The redhead pointed at the house closest to the trees and they were thankful that at least they wouldn't have to walk past a whole bunch of houses in the middle of the day. Willow started walking towards the back of the indicated house and the other three girls followed her, two of them thinking that this might be a very bad idea.

Stopping in the backyard, Willow knocked on a window and waited for the patio doors to be opened. She noticed the two slayers looking around nervously and she figured their slayer senses must be going off like crazy. Finally the door opened and a demon stepped outside, looking at them for a split-second before hugging Willow and Tara.

"Will, Tara…oh my god, I heard what happened. I'm so glad you guys made it out!" the demon exclaimed and then looked at the two other girls standing a little farther off from the witches.

Buffy and Faith looked at the demon, definitely a girl as they could tell by the voice, and narrowed their eyes. They weren't in the business of trusting demons any time soon and for some odd reason the girl/demon seemed to look familiar. Her skin was colored a mix between blue and purple and her eyes were something like yellow. The three girls stared at each other for a few seconds, before the demon smiled and nodded at them.

"You're the Slayers?"

The blonde and brunette nodded slowly, unconsciously standing closer to the other and looked at the two witches. But Willow and Tara apparently had expected the demon, and Buffy figured that this probably was their friend, as much as she disliked the idea of trusting a demon.

"Callas has put out a reward for whoever is to capture and bring you to him," the demon spoke and crossed her arms, looking around quickly.

"Oh great…how do we know you won't turn us in?" Faith asked, stepping farther away from the girl, but staying close to Buffy.

The demon shrugged and looked at the neighboring houses, "Well, you don't. But it's probably a lot safer to come inside than wait for someone to see you standing around in my backyard."

Grumbling, the two slayers followed the demon and witches inside the house, their senses alert as if anything were to strike them at any second. The demon closed the door, shutting the curtains and turned to them, holding out her hand for the slayers to shake, "Hi, I'm Anora…and I guess you must be Buffy and Faith, huh?"

Shaking the demon's hand reluctantly, the two nodded and looked around. The living room was decorated with paintings and ugly, flowery chairs and a sofa, along with the occasional porcelain figurine. It looked so normal and human it made Buffy want to cry.

"Come on, I'll bring you to my room. I can get you guys some towels to dry off," Anora nodded towards a hallway and they followed her into a room that reminded Faith painfully of Buffy's years ago. All the little girly things stacked everywhere, hundreds of pillows and posters of hunky guys.

The demon handed them some towels and Faith turned around in a circle, then looked at the girl, "Uh, just a quick question…how old are you?"

"I just turned 18. Why?" the demon responded and Faith gave a wary smile.

"So you don't live here alone, do you?" she continued, knowing what the answer would be and she was fearing the worst. She'd hid in a friend's room before while their parents were around and it wasn't exactly easy. Only then there hadn't been a reward on her head.

"No, I live with my mom and dad. They're at work, right now."

Groaning, Faith tightened her hold on the towel and glanced around the room again, "When are they gonna be back?"

The demon considered for a few seconds, then shrugged, "Well, my mom's a teacher so she won't be home until about 5. But my dad should be home any minute. See, he's an Army Guard and Callas ordered them all to go home and start searching for the Slayers in shifts."

"Perfect! You brought us right into the lion's den!" the brunette spun around to face the two witches and they gave her an apologetic look.

"We didn't know, Faith. I'm sure Anora will keep us hidden until we can figure out what to do next," Willow responded, unsure of the wild look she saw in the brunette's eyes. Faith was looking dangerous again, that look she had way back when they'd first met the younger slayer, after she'd killed Allan and the professor. And the redhead couldn't help but feel more than a little scared.

But just when the dark slayer seemed about to explode, Buffy wrapped two strong arms around her waist and pulled her back. Faith literally deflated, turning around in the blonde's arms and rested a head on Buffy's shoulder. Pulling the girl closer to her, the older slayer threw an apologetic glance at Willow, who could only nod.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry. I just don't want to go back there…," Faith whispered and the blonde could tell the girl was on the edge. Kissing the top of her head, Buffy pulled the girl up and looked deep into her eyes.

"It's okay, don't worry. We won't go back there, not like that anyway. Callas won't see the light of another day, I promise you."

Faith looked at her, then smiled, wrapping her arms around the blonde. Pulling away she took a step towards Willow, then hugged her and Tara as well as an apology. Sighing, the brunette ran a hand through her hair, closing her eyes for a second then looked at the demon girl and nodded at her.

"If we're going to defeat Callas we'll need all the help we can get. Are you in?"

Anora nodded and smiled, resulting in a weak smile from the slayer who sat down on the bed next to Willow. Now all they had to do was discuss their plan of action.

* * *

He opened the door with a sigh, escaping the burning rays of the sun. His sword came off as soon as he'd stepped into the hallway and he rested it on the dresser near the door. It wasn't all that useful, even in a fight and he hated wearing it. Unbuttoning his black shirt, he breathed a sigh of relief as cool air touched his body. The Army Guard uniform was too hot and he had a feeling Callas knew about that perfectly well.

Walking into the living room he saw no sign of his daughter and shook his head. She was probably out with friends, shopping. He didn't like that thought at all, it wasn't safe right now. The Slayers were out, and although they were said to be badly injured they were Slayers after all. He decided to at least check her room before getting all worried and made his way to the hallway leading to the girl's room.

Vannir smiled as he heard voices coming from her room, maybe the girls were still here and he could warn them about going out until the Slayers were caught. Stopping in front of the door he grasped the handle and pushed it down, opening the door slowly to make sure they could hide anything 'bad' they were doing.

"Honey, I just wanted you to know that the Slayers…" he stopped in mid-sentence as he looked into his daughter's room. The two Slayers were sitting on Anora's bed, along with two other girls he pegged to be the witches.

"…are in our house…" he finished and stared at his daughter standing off to the side dumbfounded.

* * *

"I know they're in our house, dad. I brought them here," the girl responded, crossing her arms as she looked at her dad.

The guard stared at the two Slayers again, watching for any sudden movement but they were quiet for now. Stepping backwards he knew he had to get his sword, but it was all the way in the hallway, the Slayers could easily reach him before then. But his daughter's hand stopped him from backing away further.

"Dad, don't. We got a plan…to get rid off Callas. You always say how you wished the Slayers would do what their destiny called them to do," Anora whispered so only her dad could hear and looked into his eyes pleadingly. She knew her father was against the Ruler, but overthrowing the powerful vampire wasn't possible for one simple demon. The Slayers, however, they could do it and they both knew it.

Closing his eyes he shook his head, this definitely was too much. Sure, he'd helped out the Slayers a little while they'd been locked up and he did remember thinking that it would be better if they escaped and killed Callas. But if they failed his family would be executed.

"At least listen to our plan, you can do that much," his daughter begged him and Vannir looked at the Slayers again. Miraculously they looked pretty healthy, considering the torture Callas had inflicted on the brunette right before she'd escape and the fact that the blonde had actually been shot. Maybe they had a chance, maybe.

"Fine…but I will still get my sword in case they try anything," he mumbled, walking off cautiously to fetch his sword, then met up with the five girls in his living room. If he hadn't already had a bad feeling about this, he would've definitely felt awkward now. The Slayers recognized him, which was probably a good thing considering he'd treated them with some respect and they hadn't killed him or his daughter yet.

And then one of the witches began explaining.

* * *

"…no, absolutely not!" he shook his head and looked at his daughter to tell her there was no way he was allowing this.

"But it's the only way! Someone has to bring them to the castle, dad," Anora explained again, searching for her friends' eyes to get some support.

"Yeah, we can't just go waltzing in there, pretending to turn ourselves in," Faith interjected and shrugged, looking at the guard. She remembered him, of course, he was the only demon to have paid them some form of respect. If there was one person in the whole Army they could hope to get help from it was him. And they needed help.

"I will not let you bring them there, Anora, it's too dangerous. They'll have to fight and I don't want you to get hurt."

"But dad…," the girl tried again but was cut off by her dad's handing motioning her to stop.

"Yes, I know what you're trying to say, it's the only way. And I know that…therefore I shall bring the Slayers to the castle and hand them over to Callas. He trusts me and will not doubt my ability to have captured them. And I can make sure no other guards are able to enter the room while they fight the Ruler."

Buffy looked at Faith and they nodded at each other, then at the guard. This probably was the better idea, as long as they really could trust him. And it was a lot safer for the demon girl, that was true. They were just about to go over the battle plan again, when Willow interjected.

"Wait…Callas thinks you're injured. He might be cautious if you're not."

"So what, you're suggesting we injure each other and then really lose the fight?" Faith asked, her eyebrows raised as she looked at each person in turn.

"No, Tara and I can do a spell to make you appear hurt. Just like the invisibility spell we used to free you Faith, it works kind of like that. It makes your old injuries appear, but only visually, they're not really there. As long as you act hurt and weak Callas won't know the difference."

Vannir nodded, going over the plan in his mind and brought a hand to his forehead. This was way beyond dangerous, not only could the Slayers be killed, but him and his family as well. Of course, new Slayers would be called…but who knew whether they'd have the same opportunity to defeat Callas. He knew this was the only way. Getting up, he went to his office, looking for the chains he knew he kept there and also found a few wooden stakes.

"I've got magic supplies in a closet over there, if you guys want to see whether you can find what you need for the spell in there," he nodded towards the two witches, then handed the stakes to the Slayers and held up the chains.

"These are chains made for human slaves, you two should be able to rip them easily. But I'll make them a little looser, just in case," he told them and started working on the chains as the two witches returned with a handful of little powders and herbs.

The girls started the spell and he watched them from a few feet away, then looked at the Slayers. Sure, they looked better and healthier, for now anyway, but he wasn't sure whether they still had the skill to defeat Callas. Shaking his head he prayed; to whom he didn't even know.

* * *

The girl looked up at the big castle in front of her, swallowing hard at the memories it brought. She didn't want to go back there, she didn't want to have to fight. She wished Callas would just impale himself and save them the trouble. Feeling for the stake in the waistband of her pants; Anora had been nice enough to lend her a pair of pants to hide her stake in since those shorts really didn't have much in the way of hiding places. The chains were loose around her wrists, but they still felt tight. Probably just for the fact that she was back in them, not free anymore. Although, Faith knew that she could really snap the chains and escape anytime.

They'd received not just some, but countless stares from demons and vampires during their walk across the marketplace and to the castle. Faith knew that to parts it was from the 'injuries' on their bodies; she could remember the way she'd looked after the last torture session shortly after Buffy's escape. She shuddered looking at herself even though she knew the cuts, burns and bruises weren't real. Even dried blood was coating her skin, along with dirt that she'd washed off long ago…Willow and Tara had done wonders again.

Turning her head towards Buffy she had to keep telling herself that the wounds weren't real. A large patch of blood was soaking through the blonde's shirt, just where her gunshot wound would've been and there were a few cuts on Buffy's forehead. All in all they both looked like they'd break if anyone as much as looked at them. Of course they'd added the limping and pained expressions for every step to the ensemble, but this damn limping thing without having any pain was harder than she would've thought.

The large doors in front of them opened and Vannir pulled on the chains to drag them inside. Gasps could be heard to the sides, but they had to keep their heads down like good slaves and didn't actually get a look at anyone else. She just hoped no guards would go outside and find Willow, Tara and Anora in their hiding spot outside the castle. Suddenly they stopped again and Faith almost bumped into the guard, as he waited for two other guards to open the large double-doors. She figured those led to Callas's throne room, as he called it and she could feel her senses itching in anticipation.

They walked into the room, but the doors remained open to her dismay. She hoped Vannir would be able to get them closed when he left, they might be able to fight Callas but not a whole army. The vampire stood at the end of the room, looking out a large window, his back to them. Off to the side Faith saw a table smashed to pieces and grinned, if they lost their stakes at least they'd have some provisional ones.

Callas turned around, seeming pissed at first for being interrupted but immediately spotted the Slayers and came over. He looked at Vannir who was wearing a grim expression, holding the chain connecting the Slayers in his hand and pulled on it to make the girls stumble forward. The vampire watched in satisfaction as the dark-haired one fell, taking the blonde with her and soon they were both sitting on the floor, looking weaker than ever. Callas raised his hand, indicating to Vannir that he didn't need to order them up, then smiled.

"You found them?"

"Yes, majesty…they were hiding by the lake, near my house. I saw them and was able to take them down without much of a fight. They're weak and injured. I hear you mentioned something about a reward?" Vannir spoke, his voice cold and stern, and he knew Callas was believing every word he said.

"Sure, Vannir. If you go to my magistrates they'll provide you with your money. Oh and please have the doors closed when you step out, I want some alone time with my Slayers," Callas smiled and nodded at the demon, who bowed quickly and left, the doors falling shut behind him.

The vampire stood above the Slayers, looking down at them with a wicked grin and crouched in front of Faith, cocking his head. He missed drinking the Slayer blood, even if he'd only done it a few times; it was addicting like the most powerful drug. After drinking that slave girl at the cave last night he'd given up staying away from his food. And he'd forgotten how much he missed the feel of the body giving out underneath of him, the veins collapsing as he drained the victim's blood.

The vampire trailed a cold finger down the girl's bruised and bloody cheek, he remembered inflicting those bruises on her and smiled softly. He recognized the fear in her eyes and leaned closer, letting his fangs graze her neck gently. Playing with them was one of the fun parts of drinking from live victims, not to mention the terror the blonde must've been feeling right about now. She'd lost a lot of blood and he wasn't going to risk killing her by drinking too much, so he'd just wait. The brunette was just as good. Callas sunk his teeth into her neck, feeling the skin and muscles give way to his fangs and hearing the satisfying, pained gasp from the girl.

Suddenly a fist connected with the side of his jaw, sending him flying almost a foot into the air before he dropped onto the stone floor. Snapping his eyes open he stared at the blonde Slayer, the chains around her wrists gone as she stood next to the brunette. He watch the blood trickle down the girl's neck from where his fangs had pierced her skin, but suddenly she jumped up as well, the chains snapping under the force and she pulled a stake from the waistband of her pants.

"Who would've thought…the Slayers grew a backbone," he smiled and stood up, brushing the dirt from his shirt. Of course, pissing them off would only make his situation worse, but he had nothing to lose now. His guards would never hear him through the soundproof doors…and even if, Callas doubted they'd do much damage. They were all idiots and he should've expected the smarter ones to go against him eventually.

"And who would've thought," the blonde cocked her head, "Callas is afraid."

He growled, no one called him by his name. Callas charged at the two girls. His attack seemed to surprise them and the vampire's straightened arm hit the brunette across the face, sending her sprawling back to the floor. But as soon as he landed a hit on her, a foot almost caught him in the head and he barely evaded the blonde's roundhouse kick. Jumping back a little, he grinned and sent a kick of his own her way. The girl blocked, countering with a punch to his jaw that sent him stumbling backwards.

Wiping away the trail of blood running down the corner of his mouth, he hissed, "Slayer. You're dead."

Rolling her eyes the blonde extended a hand to her counterpart without even looking and pulled the brunette up, "Gee, how original vampire. And just so you know who we are when we kill you…our names are Buffy and Faith, not 'Slayer'."

Growling the vampire jumped at them, kicking at them with both his legs, but they ducked as expected. Callas turned in mid-air and brought his leg around, catching the blonde's shoulder and he landed on his other foot. Following up with a jab to her stomach, he immediately ducked as he felt the other girl send a roundhouse his way and swept her legs out from under her. They both jumped up quickly, cautiously advancing towards his sides and started attacking at the same time.

Callas couldn't even tell whose punch he was blocking or what kick he dodged as they countered back and forth, all three of them kicking, punching and blocking. The pace was fast and if he hadn't been a vampire he probably wouldn't have been able to keep track of their movements at all. The brunette was clutching her stake tightly in her right hand and Callas allowed her to land a punch with her left. Crouching to duck a kick from the blonde, the vampire managed to grab Faith's right hand, yanking on it hard enough to flip her over him and onto her back with a thud. The stake rolled out of her hand as she gasped for breath and the vampire leaned back onto his hands, kicking up with both legs into the blonde's chest. She fell backwards as well and he jumped up, grabbing the stake from the ground and kneeled over the brunette Slayer, raising the stake to kill her.

He just didn't care anymore whether there'd be new Slayers called, he was fighting for his un-life here. He'd expected them to be a lot weaker, especially Buffy whose shirt was soaked in blood from that gunshot wound. But they'd given him quite a fight, not quite enough to save themselves from death though. Shaking his head Callas slammed the stake down, but was suddenly thrown off the brunette's body with enough force to send him crashing onto his broken table. Groaning, he stared at the blonde bitterly, his hand grasping a piece of wood from the table and got up again.

The Slayers were circling him, neither making the first move to attack and Callas watched them carefully. Suddenly Buffy threw her stake straight at his heart and the vampire caught it with ease, smiling at her and shaking his head, but in the few seconds he'd spent gloating he had completely forgotten about the brunette. Spinning around he was greeted with a punch to the jaw and a few quick jabs to the stomach that drove him backwards and he countered with his own punch that the girl easily blocked. Faith grabbed onto his wrist hard, squeezing so tight he was afraid it was going to break bone and eventually yanked him up slightly, then threw him backwards to where the blonde was. Knowing he'd be dust if he didn't react, Callas forced himself to fall towards the left and suppressed a groan of pain as the stake entered his chest.

"Missed the heart, Slayer," he coughed and looked at the wooden stake protruding from the right side of his chest. Reaching behind him he pulled out the stake with a hiss of pain and stumbled backwards, knowing he'd have to be out of reach to still have a chance.

Both Slayers stared at him, walking up next to each other, and it was their turn to gasp as the wound on the vampire closed up very slowly. Blood was still trickling from the hole in his chest, but as Callas looked down he thanked whoever had reminded him to have his magistrates cast a couple of super-healing spells on him. The Slayers looked at each other, then both charged at him at once, stakes raised. Callas jumped, both his feet connecting with a Slayer, but instead of sending them crashing to the floor the girls caught his legs and let the vampire land hard on the ground. Faith was on him in a second, her fist rocking his head from one side to the other and she quickly thrust down her stake before he'd have a chance to react.

Callas, though, was quicker than that and caught both her hands in his before the stake could enter his chest, pushing up against her, trying to turn the stake to point at her. He knew that even though he'd be able to he couldn't flip her over onto her back; the blonde was still standing above them, only waiting for him to give her an open shot. The vampire turned the stake, pointing it at the brunette Slayer's neck, then grinned.

"Checkmate, luv," he whispered to her and pushed against the stake with all his might while she tried to push it away, the wood starting to splinter under the force. Suddenly, as the wooden tip was almost piercing her skin, he felt a knee connect with his groin and yelped in surprise and pain. Throwing the Slayer off him, Callas pulled away, writhing in pain for a few seconds. Buffy was already coming at him, her own stake raised and she jumped on top of him, sending another wave of pain crashing through his body, but he kicked her off as well, standing up slowly.

He sent a roundhouse kick at Faith's head, who'd greeted him with a poised stake as soon as he'd stood, and she didn't have time to block, catching the hit full on. Callas watched as her eyes clouded over and she started to sway, suddenly falling forward. He drove a knee into her stomach as she fell and spun around in time to clothesline the blonde standing behind him. She dropped to her knees, gasping for breath and Callas looked down as two arms wrapped tightly around his legs. The brunette was holding onto him, trying to stand and the vampire pulled her up by her hair, staring at her face with a smile. She was close to unconsciousness and he let his fist connect with the side of her head again, just to make sure, then leaned in to finally get his blood. Kicking behind him he connected with something solid, making sure that the blonde couldn't sneak up on him, then brought his fangs to Faith's neck.

"But you fought so well," he murmured, licking the blood off the unconscious girl's neck. Suddenly her eyes snapped open and he felt a stake enter his back, just before another entered his chest.

"Aww…and so did you," the brunette whispered, her fist connecting hard with his face as she looked into his shocked eyes, sending him flying into the air just before he exploded into dust. Faith blinked, her stake still raised and she stared at Buffy who was standing in the same position not a foot from her.

They stared at each other, mouths hanging open before they both broke into wide grins. Two stakes dropped to the stone floor as the Slayers fell into each other's arms. The dust was slowly settling onto their clothes and the ground and they turned just in time to see the doors burst open, spilling a whole regime of guards into the room.

"Where's the Ruler!?" one of them yelled, his weapon trained on them.

Buffy cocked her head, looking at him and shrugged, "Poof?"

The guards looked at them dumbfounded for a few seconds, then at each other and lowered their weapons. They didn't know what to do, had never expected the great Callas to be staked and now had no sense of direction or purpose. They'd spent the past few years blindly following orders and the confusion at not receiving any now left them dumbfounded. A few turned around and left, while the others stood, staring stupidly at the two Slayers as if expecting something.

"B," Faith whispered, pulling on the other girl's sleeve, "why aren't they attacking?"

"Uh…I have no idea?" the blonde whispered back, watching as the guards kept their distance, no sign of a fight in them.

"Umm, not that I mind your this sudden love for pacifism or anything, but…what's going on?" Buffy continued, wondering why they weren't cutting the Slayers to pieces for killing Callas.

"They're just not used to thinking for themselves; they were never the brightest anyway, right boys?" came a familiar voice from the entrance and the two girls watched as Vannir made his way towards them. "At this point I bet they'd even take orders from the Slayers."

"But…we're not…I mean, we're not Rulers. We can't rule people, right Faith?" the blonde pointed at her and Faith, who was only nodding, rendered speechless.

"Well, whatever you do is up to you," the guard spoke and looked around the room, seeing the grains of dust on the two girls he smiled.

"So…we can make them let all the slaves go free?" Buffy asked excitedly, almost bouncing and Vannir nodded. He turned to the confused demons and gave them the orders. They all seemed relieved to have something to do, regardless of who had given the order.

"Aww, but Buffy," Faith interjected from her side, "I wanted to have some slaves, too!"

Receiving a glare from the blonde, the younger girl held up her hands with a smirk, "Hey, I was only joking. Let my people go, right?"

Before she could respond to that, the Slayers heard footsteps in the hallway and were greeted with the bodies of two witches and a demon girl tackling them in hugs. Willow was smiling more than she could remember ever doing before and looked at the dust on the floor as well, "You know guys," she finally spoke, "I never thought I'd be so happy to see dust."

They chuckled and Faith hugged the redheaded Wicca tightly, "You know Red, me neither."

"Willow, Vannir said the demons will follow our orders, well the stupid ones anyway. We're letting all the slaves go!" Buffy squealed and hugged her best friend once again.

"Yeah, I saw them going to the dungeons. But what're you guys gonna do?" Willow asked, looking around the room. It was definitely a nice castle, now that Callas was nothing more than dust on the floor.

The Slayers looked at each other, shrugging, "I dunno. I don't want to rule the world or some crap like that. But hell there's no way I'm giving up this castle! It's wicked cool!"

Buffy rolled her eyes then shook her head as she looked at the two witches and the demon, "Faith!"

"What? I bet they've got great beds. What'cha say B, you did promise me something and you know how slaying always get me…" the brunette started, her mouth close to Buffy's ears it was sending shivers down the blonde's back.

Clamping a hand around the brunette's mouth, Buffy smiled nervously, taking the girl's hand, "Hungry…you're hungry. We…we'll find you something to eat. Come on."

Dragging the younger girl out of the room Buffy shook her head again, wondering what the hell she was getting herself into. Faith turned around quickly, catching Willow's eyes and winked, before vanishing out the door with the blonde.

"That is just too…I wanna say creepy, anyone else wanna go with creepy here?" the redhead remarked, watching the Slayers leave the room.

"Maybe we should reverse that spell," Tara interjected, "I don't know how fun uh…'eating' is going to be with the spell still in effect."

Willow grinned, taking her girlfriend's hand and shrugged, "Hey, their choice. If they hadn't just run off like that, then we could've reversed the spell and then they could've gone to find…food, but nooo, they couldn't wait and now they're gonna have to…,"

The redhead was cut off by her girlfriend's lips pressed gently against hers and to that she really couldn't object. No matter how much making out in front of a whole bunch of demons freaked her out. Maybe they should go find a room as well, it was a castle after all…lots of space.

* * *

"Buffy?" the brunette asked softly, looking into hazel eyes as they stood in the large bedroom, surrounded by the soft light of candles and each other's presence.

"Yeah, babe?" Buffy looked up at her lover, trailing her fingers gently across the girl's soft skin.

"I…I want you to know that I love you. A lot. And I never, ever want to be without you again," Faith whispered, closing her eyes in fear of being rejected, now that everything was over.

"Good," she heard Buffy's soft voice whisper in reply and opened her eyes, "'cause I love you. A lot."

The brunette smiled, leaning closer to the blonde's ear and breathed, "Really?"

Her answer came in the form of her girlfriend's lips touching hers gently, before Buffy's tongue entered her mouth and made her forget whatever she had asked in the first place.

Because now really was no time for questions.

THE END


End file.
